Emulated
by PokeSpeBanette
Summary: Ten years ago, he had an identity he was proud of. Now, ten years later, he was still the same person- but he was terrified of being recognised. DISCONTINUED BUT IMMA LEAVE IT HERE BECAUSE APPARENTLY PEOPLE LIKE THIS SHIT
1. Chapter 1

Renny: So, I may be remaking _Emulated_. Just . . . I'm doing it differently.

Green: You think?

Renny: Yep. I was an idiot back when I first did it, and I've got a better grip on mental issues and such now, so I should be able to do the remake better. Also, I'm changing the team Green has. Drastically.

Red: Wow, you're going all out, aren't you?

Renny: Yep. Disclaimer!

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

 **OOOOOO**

Kalos. It was . . . a strange place. A new type had been discovered about three years ago, said to originate from Kalos. A few pokemon already known had this type as well, but strangely enough only ones from Kalos had the type.

Fairy. It was . . . a weird name, for a type, but it was a type all the same. Powerful, too. Or at least, Sylveon was powerful. Others . . . he wasn't so sure about. But he didn't mind honestly.

Swiping a woman's purse that was practically bulging with pokepounds (at least, it looked that way) , the small boy walked through the streets of Lumiose city.

He tugged at the blue scarf around his neck, which hid most of his face besides his eyes, the ends trailing down his back. Nobody would question his choice at this time of year- it was a cold winter anyway. A long-sleeved purple top- it could have been part of his old outfit, had it possessed a turtleneck- covered his body, hiding the skinny, almost skeleton-like body he had.

His bare feet scuffed up some snow, and the boy, all too used to it by now, shook it off. The dark jeans he'd stolen from the boutique place still fit snugly, even if they were a bit wet from the snow still falling.

The Sylveon beside him glanced around at the people passing by, standing still, or otherwise, and suddenly vanished. The boy paid no attention. Once the Fairy type had come back, gripping a small pack of . . . something in his jaws, the boy snapped his fingers and suddenly he was weightless. Then he was in an abandoned warehouse just outside of the city limits.

Five more pokemon waited for the two there. A Goodra, a Noivern, a Gardevoir, a Zoroark, and a Xerneas. The Sylveon dropped the pack when he received a stern look from the Xerneas, and the boy tugged the scarf down.

"I assume you were successful." The Xerneas said.

"We have money, at least." The boy told him. "No food. Again."

"I'm not surprised." The Goodra sighed. "Food is much too obvious . . ."

"Well, maybe I should try!" The Gardevoir cried, looking mutinous. "I'd have done much better than you two!"

"Sure, a fully evolved Psychic type is gonna be able to blend in so nicely in a city." The Sylveon snorted.

"Sylveon, Gardevoir, not now." The Xerneas spoke loudly, then lowered his voice when he spoke to the boy. "Green, she may have a point. As a Psychic type, Gardevoir could easily take some food and make her escape with no pursuers."

The boy opened his mouth to say exactly why it _wasn't a good idea,_ but the Zoroark beat him to it.

"Dude, everyone'd notice." The Dark type said loudly.

" _Why is everyone so against this oh my Mew."_

"Silence, Gardevoir." The Xerneas said.

The boy, Green, rolled his eyes. "Xerneas, Goodra, what did you two find?"

Goodra looked over from where she was watching a small Spinarak make its' web and blinked. "I'm not sure what it is, honestly, but it's green and it's paper."

"Pokepounds." Almost everyone in the building told her.

"Yes, thank you! Here."

"I had concealed myself as a Lillipup, but found nothing." Xerneas told Green, sitting down on the cold floor. "Humans are strangely protective when indoors, even when feeding a starving creature."

Green shrugged. The Noivern whined and nudged him with his head, giving the boy a bag filled with bits of fruit. Green gaped at the Dragon/Flying type before smiling. He gently scratched the Noivern's chin, making sure to avoid the scar on his neck.

"Good job, Noivern." The boy said softly. Noivern cooed happily.

"Yes, we have food!" Sylveon shouted.

Hours later, before the cops found them (because Green knew they would), everyone but Zoroark was returned into their pokeballs. Zoroark turned himself into a Rapidash and Green quickly got onto his back, and then they were rushing out of the warehouse.

They watched from a distance as the police knocked down the warehouse doors, then shared a smirk when the leading officer bellowed in anger.

 **oooo**

"Whatever it is you want, I can give it to you!" The man begged. "Please, just-"

Green rolled his eyes and shoved the knife in the man's throat. He gurgled some blood and then fell to his side, and Green took pretty much everything the man had on him- money, bits of random papers, and a few bits of food.

He grabbed the knife from the man's neck, cleaned it on one of the useless bits of paper, and then left the alleyway. Anistar city was probably one of his favourite haunts- despite having a landmark and a Gym, there were no police. Most likely because of the Gym leader, who Green had little care to meet, but he didn't care so long as he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it.

He moved on to the place that had the docks- what was it again- Coumarine city, that was it. He hadn't been to this place in a while.

Mainly because the police here actually did stuff, and were quick in doing it, so he made sure to avoid any and all officers, and be very discreet when he took something from someone.

He stopped by a shop that was selling electronics, and rolled his eyes.

" _The murderer known as the Phantom Thief has struck again- this time, a poor woman was robbed of her life's savings, and a man has lost his life. The police of Lumiose city have agreed to aid the Gym leader of Anistar city in finding the menace known as the Phantom Thief."_ The reporter was saying. _"Currently, not one person has ever seen the Phantom Thief, but people have claimed to see snippets of him- Stacy can tell you more about that. Stacy, what have people been saying?"_

" _Well,"_ The camera shifted to some redhead in Anistar city. _"I have with me a teen girl who claimed to see someone walk out of the very alley in which the man, Eric Nickey, was murdered and then cruelly robbed. However, she can only describe the person as small, because she was too distraught when she found Eric."_

" _Well, there we have it. Be wary of those you don't know, people of Kalos. The Phantom Thief may be near you at this very moment."_

Useless. Green would have laughed and said it out loud had there not been a small crowd watching the report. One man cursed and slammed his hand into his fist.

"We need to get rid of this Phantom!" He shouted angrily. "He's wreaked havoc on Kalos for too many years!"

"Yeah!" A few people shouted.

Green turned away. They always did this after he killed someone, but no one ever did anything but report 'sightings' of him to the equally useless police.

Unknown to him, a man wearing a brown trench coat had seen him. The man frowned before pulling out a device, and he spoke into it softly.

 **oooo**

Fairy types were immune to Dragons, and weak to Steel types. Green wasn't one to question nature, but he still thought it was weird. But then again, however Fairy types were presented, they couldn't be OP like Dragons had been before Fairies were discovered.

The book he held was mostly on pokemon types, but it did have a few bits on Legends as well. Of course, the bits about the Legendry pokemon were useless and often wrong, because Xerneas could tell him what it was like to be part of a heavenly order that tried- and mostly failed- to keep the peace between pokemon and humans.

It was also wrong about a lot of types that Goodra saw fit to correct quietly, with her weird scribbly writing, and a little bit of slime that was thankfully easy to get off. But the book was better than nothing, if only because it was the only thing he owned that he hadn't stolen or killed for.

He was hanging around in a small town called Vaniville town, which had a small port in which Green himself had come in by. That had been, what, ten years ago now? And he hadn't changed a bit.

Literally.

He was just looking over the railing near the sea, watching some boats come and go with Noivern, when a man tapped his shoulder. Green looked over his shoulder and almost laughed. The guy looked like he was straight out of _Doctor Who_.

"Excuse me, but do you have clearance to be here?" The man- Green dubbed him as Doctor Trench Coat- asked.

"I wasn't aware I needed it." Green told him quietly. Noivern glanced over when Green turned to face Doctor TC fully, and titled his head curiously.

"There's an investigation going on right now. A young lady was pushed overboard." Doctor TC explained. "How did you not hear about it?"

"I don't talk or listen to people much." Green said. "But if you want me to leave, I suppose we should go. But can we stay at a distance? Noivern likes the boats."

"Yes, I'm sure it does." Doctor TC laughed. "There's a cliff top up there, if you're interested. I'm sure a strong Dragon like this one can carry you up?"

"He can." Green nodded.

He got onto Noivern's back and they flew up to the cliff where Doctor TC had pointed them to. Green jumped down and got to the edge of the cliff where he could see the entire port, Noivern crawling up beside him.

" . . . I think he lied." Green told Noivern. "But we have a better view from here, so you can boat-watch all you want to, alright?"

Noivern cooed appreciatively and settled down to watch the boats contently. Green smiled a little. Noivern was powerful, he could rip apart nearly anything, but he was basically a big child. Not that it was his fault, but Green didn't really mind. It made him feel happy to know that he could look after someone.

"Hands in the air."

 _And there we go._

Green turned around, hands very much _not_ in the air, and raised an eyebrow at Doctor TC.

"You could have just tried to get me on the port." He told the man.

In the bushes, hidden, were about five police men. They thought they could hide, but Green saw the glints of their guns and pokeballs.

"I don't want the press to know anything about this yet." Doctor TC said casually, as if they were discussing the weather. "I'm not sure if you're the Phantom Thief yet, but you have certainly killed and stolen."

"Well, I'm not wearing shoes, so I think you know why I steal." Green shrugged.

"Yes, but why not steal some shoes?"

"It'd be weird."

"And what about killing people?"

Green snorted. "Some people, despite how stupid they seem, can actually tell when they get mugged. Other times I meet them in a secluded place, and . . . well, you know the rest."

"So, you're a killer and a thief for different reasons." Doctor TC smirked. "I think that's enough of a confession. Why don't you come on out, boys?"

"They need to hide better." Green said, as the five men came out. They looked startled at his words. "I saw your guns and pokeballs. Newsflash, if it's shiny and you're trying to be sneaky on a sunny day, keep the shiny stuff hidden."

"Keep that in mind men." Doctor TC muttered. "Now, kid, if you come quietly we won't have to resort to doing this the old fashioned, hard way."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, sir." Green told him.

"Do not call me 'sir'. My name is Looker." Doctor TC snapped.

"Well, sorry for not seeing the name tag."

Looker took a deep breath and calmed himself down significantly.

"Why can't you come in?" Looker asked him.

"Because I have friends who need me just as much as I need them." Green said.

Noivern rose up behind him and Green knew he was looking menacing with the scars and the scowl, because the police men backed away slightly.

"And I'm afraid my time in Kalos is up, _sir_." Green smirked.

Looker growled, and then yelled in shock when Green threw himself off the cliff.

Just seconds before he hit the water, Noivern grabbed him in his talons and flipped the boy onto his back. Green looked back at the cliff, and mockingly saluted Looker. He heard a loud bellow and laughed quietly, patting Noivern as thanks.

"You wanna go and see a boat up close, buddy?" Green cooed.

Noivern screeched excitedly.

"Then take us to that one- the big one with the red flag on the mast."

Getting onto the boat wasn't hard- it was a cruise boat, already far out to sea, so no one could follow unless they had a Flying pokemon, which Green doubted very much. Like he'd said before, Police were useless. But anyway, it wasn't hard because no one was watching and no passengers were on the deck yet.

He quickly returned Noivern after a small thank you, and then sent out Sylveon, who promptly complained about the tackiness of the floorboards.

"Sylveon, please, we're stowing away, not going for a trip." Green flippantly, already making his way to the stairwell that would, hopefully, lead to a good place below deck.

Well, it led him to second class at least, where he honestly didn't look very out of place. The whole thing was kind of like the Titanic, and Green hoped it wouldn't randomly sink from an ice berg or something. But he was still confused as to why there were still classes between passengers. However, he didn't question it since he now had cover.

And second class was always more fun than first, anyway.

 **oooo**

" _Captain, we have reason to believe that a stowaway has been found on board."_

"As if we didn't need more troubles. First a massive storm out of nowhere and now a stowaway." The captain sighed. He was an old man, had been running the _One-Liner_ for almost fifty years, and he'd always had to deal with storms and stowaways. Just not at the same time.

He looked at the video-phone, where his second was watching him quietly.

"What evidence do you have?" The captain asked.

" _The second class passengers are acting suspiciously, Captain. That and we found wet tracks, made by at least three different creatures- two pokemon and one human we suspect- on deck, when no one else had been there."_ The second reported.

"What reason would the second class passengers have to harbour a stowaway?" The captain frowned.

" _We're not sure, but they're all acting as if they're hiding something. Would you like us to find out-?"_

" . . . No. If it's just one stowaway, I think we can afford it. Besides, if that many people are willing to hide the stowaway, I don't want to be the one to aggravate them."

" _Yes, Captain."_

 **oooo**

"Kanto? That's where this ship is headed!"

Green blinked. Oh, perfect.

The old man in front of him laughed and patted him on the head, as many of the other adult passengers had done.

"I assume you wanted to go back there, then?" The old man asked. "Well, you must be favoured by the gods to have such good luck, kid."

"I guess so." Green nodded.

He'd only told the passengers he was trying to get back to Kanto, which was, obviously, a lie. But he'd been able to convince them that it was his life's dream to go to Kanto, if only to see the legendry Champion Red. He would have felt sorry for exploiting their sympathy had he not been used to it.

But still. Kanto, of all places . . . and he couldn't leave the ship either, since there wasn't likely to be any other boats nearby, and Noivern couldn't fly long distances. Maybe a few miles or so, but not huge stretches just to find a boat that had little chance of being there. And the Dragon/Flying type would need periodic rests, which weren't available in the middle of the sea.

So, back to Kanto it was.

Damn.

One of the mothers nearby told him that the ship would briefly dock in a remote island to refuel, but since it wasn't big enough for Green's . . . wanderlust, or whatever it was, he was still stuck on board.

Some of the passengers misread his frustrated sigh as a sad one, because he wasn't able to get off the ship, so a family of four- dad, mom, brother and little sister- offered to take him as a sort of . . . adoptee or something. He wasn't sure how they worded it, he was just too busy trying to stop Sylveon from taking some poor man's money.

He owed them that much.

So Green accepted, and when they got to the island, he departed with the family for a small break off the boat. Sylveon had returned himself, saying that the island was 'too low-class' for a pokemon such as himself, which made no sense at all, so Green let Gardevoir out for a while.

"Oh, what a beautiful Gardevoir!" The mom gushed, clasping her hands.

Gardevoir looked startled, but then started sucking in the praise. She did small tricks, like using Teleport to randomly steal peoples' things and then put them on other people, for the amusement of pretty much everyone but Green, who rolled his eyes and muttered about how well things would have gone had they kept a low profile.

Like he'd said before, Gardevoir was the worst sneak ever. No matter what she said.

Honestly, it was like she wanted to get attention, but then she went and contradicted herself when she complained about not getting to do the stealing and stuff. Idiot.

By the time the passengers were called back to the boat, it was well past noon, and Green was beginning to regret choosing this particular boat. The only reason he'd done so was because Noivern loved boats, the bigger the better, and Green had never refused Noivern anything so far.

He wasn't about to start it now, anyway.

Days later, they finally docked in the actual destination. He departed with the passengers, after the first class prissies of course, bastards, and said goodbye and thank you for their hospitality and all that. Then he dashed off. He knew he was in Fuchsia city, because he could see the Gym. If it were Vermillion, the Gym would probably be all electrical and all that- Surge was a user of Electric types last he checked, and Koga was a user of Poison, so . . .

Speaking of, he should probably check and see if there were any Rockets about. Last time he encountered them, it was in Lavender town, and that had left him with a crippling terror of Ghost types and graveyards. He didn't want to be caught unawares if the situation hadn't gotten any better over the past ten years.

Funny how he was suddenly acting like he'd intended to come here to start off with. He could adapt to stuff just like that, but Green had thought he'd never go back to Kanto, so . . . but meh.

Not like he had any choice. He couldn't go back to Kalos, he had no idea how to get to Johto without using the Victory Pathway just off Victory Road, which was teeming with people bound to recognise him- speaking of which, he quickly pulled up his scarf to conceal his face. Hopefully no one would question him.

Goodra let herself out to walk with him after a few minutes. They wandered around the city, looking for any signs of Rocket activity, and were both startled when they found nothing.

"Considering the fact that their Gym leader is a Rocket, I would have thought they'd have a bunch of them hanging around here." Green muttered to Goodra.

"Maybe they got taken down?" She suggested, waving at a little kid who giggled at her.

"By who? They're too strong for that, Goodra."

"What about that kid you told us about a few years ago?" The Dragon type asked. "What if he did it?"

"Uh . . . what was his name again?" Green blinked. It had been so long that he'd forgotten who the red eyed kid was.

"You never told us." Goodra said.

Well, he was an idiot then.

Oh well.

"There doesn't seem to be any Rockets." Green muttered to himself and Goodra, a few hours later. "Not a single one. Maybe . . . maybe you're right."

"That kid probably did take them down, then." Goodra nodded. "Did he seem powerful or anything? Did he have some kind of unnatural power?"

Green remembered watching the red eyed boy's battle against Brock, and remembered being jealous of how the boy had gotten through to the Pikachu, if only for a brief moment, when Green had barely managed to keep his Charmeleon and Pidgeotto under control at the time.

" . . . No."

Goodra knew he was lying, but she said nothing. Green was grateful to her for that.

They'd checked the whole city by nightfall, not including the Gym, and Green determined that the Rockets had either been beaten or they were just hiding for some reason.

He and Goodra decided to go to the market, which they'd checked ages ago. He was walking past a stall selling clothes when he heard the sound of his weird alias given by the Kalosian news people on a TV nearby. He paused, making himself look busy with the different patterns on the shirts, and listened to the TV.

" _The criminal known as the Phantom Thief has escaped from Kalos. It is currently unknown where he is, but authorities were able to get a picture of him before he left Kalos-"_ Green froze and stopped pretending, watching the TV in shock. When did they . . .? " _-so all regions have been warned to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. The governments of each region have asked the people to keep calm and report anything that they think could be useful to their search for this mysterious murderer. More on this at ten."_

"Green?" Goodra murmured, turning to him with wide eyes.

No one else had seemed to bother with the report, so he seemed safe, but on the off chance that someone happened to tune into it at that exact moment, saw him wandering around at some point . . . he couldn't risk it.

Great, now there was nowhere safe to go. And he'd actually begun to think Kanto might not be that bad.

"Shocking, isn't it?" The man at the stall tutted. "Someone as young as that, being turned into a criminal . . . what's this world coming to?"

Green nodded numbly. Hopefully the man wouldn't notice he happened to look exactly like the person on the TV.

"Bit of a shame really. If that kid was a good guy we'd all feel safe, you know?"

"I . . . guess so?"

The man laughed and asked if he wanted to buy anything, and, against Green's better judgements, he politely said no.

"Why didn't you buy anything? You could have easily disguised yourself." Goodra said as they walked away.

"I just . . . I don't know." Green sighed. "Sorry."

" . . . It's alright." Goodra said, patting him on the head. Green absently took the slime off of his head.

What happened next was all a bit fast.

Suddenly, someone screamed and then there was fire. Green yelled and jumped out of the way, and then turned around to who the hell was crazy enough to shoot a Flamethrower at him.

The leading police officer narrowed his eyes, his Arcanine growling beside him. Goodra silently got into an attack position, but Green held her back.

"Put your hands in the air, Phantom." The leading officer commanded. "And we won't have to do this the hard way."

 _Oh for Mew's sake, not again._

Green shared one look with Goodra and then promptly blew a raspberry at them. Goodra fired a Hidden Power: Water at the pokemon surrounding them, and then in the resulting confusion she and Green ran for it.

"Stop right there!"

Green ignored the police and returned Goodra, sending out Noivern right after.

"Pallet town." He hissed, not even thinking.

Oh well, too late to take it back. Noivern screeched upon seeing the police and their Arcanine, and then took off at the speed of sound.

After being reassured that they weren't being followed, Green was finally calm enough to actually give directions to Noivern. He couldn't take it back now, because once he told Noivern a destination, the Dragon/Flying type would take him there and there only.

He had no idea why. Maybe something to do with the poachers . . .

They landed on a hill nearby the town limits. Green slowly slid off Noivern and looked at the town below. Noivern nudged him when he didn't move for a few seconds, and Green turned around and buried his face in the pokemon's fur.

"Why did I come back?" He whispered, gently hugging Noivern. He felt Noivern wrap his scaly wings around him. "I know it was a reflex, but I could have said anywhere but Pallet town . . . Hell, even Viridian would have been better. I'm so stupid and sentimental."

Noivern cooed gently and licked his head. Green pulled back a little bit and smiled.

"Thanks." He said. "Hey, how about we go down to the beach? You never really got the chance to try and play in the sand. If we stay away from people, no one should see us."

Pallet town's beach wasn't very far, and Green directed Noivern to a small portion overseen by a small cliff with a large cave mouth that led deep underground embedded in the face. Green remembered coming here when he was . . . uh . . . well, when he was a bit younger.

"Hey, who wants a song?"

"We don't want a song!"

"I want a song!"

"Sylveon, no!"

"Oh come on, Garde, sing! _Only the strongest will-"_

" _SHUT UP."_

Green rolled his eyes. Zoroark and Xerneas were settled down next to him, Noivern and Goodra were playing in the sand (more like Noivern played and Goodra looked after him), and Gardevoir was being harassed by Sylveon. Again.

"Suppose we should go stop him." Green said.

"Probably best." Zoroark nodded.

"Yep."

They didn't move. Xerneas pretended to sleep.

"Hey, how long are we staying here?" Zoroark asked suddenly. "You never really said."

"I . . . have no idea. The whole thing with the man-hunt for me won't really die down, so I guess . . . maybe we can stow away on another ship and go to . . . I dunno, Hoenn or something?" Green shrugged.

"Dude, you're like nine or something, you can't call it a man-hunt."

"I'm eleven, and technically I'm twenty-one."

"Don't look it."

Green scoffed and turned away.

"Oh, are you pouting now?"

"No, I'm sulking, there's a huge difference."

"I'm sure there is."

"If you two would be so kind as to shut up," Xerneas interrupted. "I am attempting to get some rest."

"You've been asleep for like five days." Zoroark muttered.

"That does not mean I do not need constant sleep."

"Who knew the god of life was a narcoleptic."

" _A_ god of life. I have informed you before; I am not the only one of my kind." Xerneas said, finally raising his head to stare disapprovingly at Zoroark, who made a face.

"Hey, is he meant to be eating the sand!?" Goodra called. "Can Noiverns do that?"

"Noivern stop eating the sand." Green called back. Noivern immediately stopped eating the sand and started on his sandcastle again.

"I swear, that Noivern has the mind of a baby." Zoroark muttered.

"He has a very good reason." Green told him, slapping the Dark type on the arm. Zoroark huffed.

"If I acted like that all the time, I'd be called an idiot."

"Zoroark," Green said in mock horror. "Are you jealous of Noivern?"

"I . . . No."

"I'm sensing a bit of a lie there."

"You're an idiot."

"I made the translator out of scraps."

" . . . You have no common sense."

"Better. Still not good."

Zoroark rolled his eyes. Then his look softened as he glanced over at Noivern.

"But still, he shouldn't be acting like this. It's been, what, seven years now?" He sighed.

"I believe the term humans use is 'psychological issues'." Xerneas said.

Green nodded shortly. " . . . You know, now that I think about it, everyone here's had a bad past."

"Well, good thing we all met each other!" Zoroark laughed. "Otherwise we'd all be dead. Well, besides you, kid. You can't die."

"I wish I could." Green muttered. "I probably should."

"Do not speak of such depressing actions." Xerneas murmured softly. Green felt the Fairy type's antlers gently press into his back, and then there was a nice warm feeling going through his body. "Rest, child. I will request good dreams from Cresselia for you."

"No need, I don't . . . don't dream . . . 'nyway . . ."

"Nonetheless, I would like to see you happy."

"'anks . . ."

 **OOOOOO**

Renny: This one is much more deep than the other one- basically, it has more to it then 'Green the kid shows up all cursed and stuff and basically kills the clone out of anger'.

Red: Wow, you really did change his team a lot.

Renny: He was in Kalos instead of Unova, so yeah. Kalos is now officially my second favourite region, btw. Kanto still holds first place. But anyway, next chapter is where we meet Red! And the others, but mostly Red.

Red: Uh-

Renny: Hey, he only remembers your face, not your name. Besides, this Green, if anyone wasn't paying attention, disappeared during Lavender town. Therefore he'll only have met Red, what, two or three times?

Red: I . . . suppose you have a point.

Renny: Of course I do, I'm the author. Also, I'm sorry to any Red fans who may be reading this, but Red's gonna be a massive-ass jerk. Considering that Green isn't around to basically help to humble him, he got arrogant and stuff.

Green: Freudian excuse.

Renny: I'm not sure this qualifies. Read and review, and hopefully this one is better!


	2. Chapter 2

Renny: So, I'm just gonna throw this out- most of this will be in Green's POV, but there will be short cut-aways when someone else will have the floor. They'll never be with Green, so it's basically something like dramatic irony or whatever.

Green: I think you got that one wrong.

Renny: Who cares, I'm writing this. Anyway, disclaimer!

Green: *rolls eyes* Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

 **OOOOOO**

 _Fear. The first thing he felt when he woke up. Fear had been quickly replaced by unexplained anger, and then confusion._

 _He should have died then and there, he could see the man looked confused- why was this boy still alive, even when he'd been shot in the head four times? That same question was going through his head as well. His pokemon had died, he'd seen them all be torn apart by a massive Arbok, so why hadn't he died too?_

 _The man had then proceeded to try and disembowel him. He died after seeing his insides being ripped out, and then, some short hours later, he was alive again and his insides were inside him._

 _Again, the man was confused. But this time he was a little bit scared- but not as much as he had been._

 _So, the death continued. Each day brought a new way to die, a severed head, heart torn out, brains blown out by a gun, whatever. Each time, he woke up from it, hours or minutes later, perfectly fine. Even the man couldn't understand it- he had never seen the boy get resurrected since he'd been cackling about how he'd 'finally killed him'._

 _Why hadn't he died? Why had he lived, when so many others, even gods, would have died?_

 _The boy had no idea, but he soon found out why._

 _Almost two weeks later, after being killed yet again, the man finally got the sense to ask why he wasn't dying. The Gastley that had possessed the boy when he'd first walked into the tower looked the man in the eyes and grinned._

 _Both man and boy knew then. The Gastley had Cursed the boy- the actual attack was never meant to be used on humans, and the boy was . . . sort-of living proof of it. What the Gastley had done was worse- it had Cursed him to remain eternally young, eternally the same, not changing at all, and made him unable to die._

 _The man had laughed, and had said that was a worse fate then what Team Rocket had planned. Three days later, because the man couldn't resist killing him a few more times for the fun of it, the boy had been kicked out._

 _When he tried to ask for help, to try and get rid of the Curse, a woman had looked at him and screamed. He found out why from an old newspaper- Team Rocket had sent pictures of his first death to every newspaper in the region, and a few more to his grandfather._

 _The whole region thought he was dead._

 _The shock of that revelation had caused him to want out. He didn't want to be in a region where, to everyone you met, you were a zombie or something. The boy wasn't sure what he was anymore, he knew he wasn't human. Or at least, not a normal human._

 _He changed clothes to a bunch of rags he found on the streets, and then stowed away on a random boat in Vermillion. The boat took him all the way to a far-away region called Kalos, where he met his team._

 _The boy could only assume that the man had kept quiet about his . . . resurrections._

 **oooo**

Green woke up to see Xerneas staring him in the face. He yelped and scrabbled back on the sand, then glared.

"Hey, do I sneak up on you when you're sleeping?" He demanded. "No? Well don't do it to me!"

"I am sorry, but I wished to inform you that some humans- young, Trainers from the way they act- some humans are coming this way. Perhaps we should make haste towards the cave?" Xerneas asked.

" . . . Oh, right, ok."

He called over Noivern, who was kind of swimming, and Goodra, who was avoiding the water in fear of melting or something, and then looked around for Gardevoir and Sylveon before spotting them inside the cave already with Zoroark between them.

The Trainers- and there were a lot of them- were huge in number. To Green, anyway. Gardevoir concentrated and counted all of them, going through a quick head scan in case she miscounted or something.

"There's about . . . fourteen of them. Various ages." Gardevoir told them.

"Great." Sylveon muttered. "So, who are they? Did your weird Psycho powers tell you that?"

"It's Psychic, and no, I have morals." Gardevoir snarled, getting in his face. Sylveon smirked.

"Guys, not now." Green hissed. "Looks like they're gonna be here a while."

On the beach, the group was setting up what looked to be a picnic of some kind. Considering how many of them were there, it wasn't hard to guess why he'd said that.

"Want me to get rid of them?" Zoroark asked, grinning.

"No, I wanna see if they're bad or anything."

"We steal and kill for a literal living, who are we judge?"

"Fair point, but still. Like Gardevoir said, morals." Green shrugged.

" . . . Fair play."

The people that were setting up the picnic had finished by now and seemed to be listening to a tall, black haired man who was loud enough that his voice could be heard from all the way over where they were, but not enough so that they could hear what he was saying. Green instantly decided he didn't like him. By the way his tone sounded, the man seemed to think he was the best thing since sliced bread.

"He seems nice." Xerneas muttered.

"I thought you didn't know what sarcasm was." Zoroark snarked.

"I know very well what it is, and I know how to use it."

"Hey, guys?"

"Not now, Goodra, we're . . . observing." Green said.

"You mean spying?" Sylveon called.

"Same difference."

"I think you should see this."

"Goodra-"

"Please?"

They finally turned around to see what Goodra wanted them to see. And then promptly froze.

" . . . Is that a Steelix?" Sylveon asked quietly.

Steelix weren't apparently even native to Kanto, but Green supposed this one must have found a way into the caves though Mt Silver or something. Even he didn't know where the caves went.

"I believe so." Xerneas said, eyes wide.

"We should probably move now, since, you know, half the team is weak to that." Zoroark murmured to Green.

"But the people . . ."

"Who gives a damn, would you rather be in an awkward situation instead of dead? I would."

"He has a point." Goodra said.

Noivern seemed to get the danger, because he nodded as well. Green looked at the three members of his team who were part or full Fairy type, and then returned them quickly. The Steelix roared and attacked.

"RUUUUN!" Zoroark screeched, making a dash for the exit.

Green was picked up by Noivern, who blasted away above the two pokemon on the ground. The Steelix crashed out of the cave and Screeched, making Goodra and Zoroark drop to the floor in pain, clutching their ears.

Noivern was completely unaffected. Green climbed onto his back and patted his head, and then Noivern Screeched back at the Steelix- sending a challenge.

"Alright, keep it busy." Green muttered. He saw Noivern nod, and then Green jumped off his back.

He registered several cries of shock as he fell, but ignored them- he had more pressing matters then a bunch of idiots. He fell to the sand, breaking a few of his bones maybe, and then limped over to Goodra and Zoroark. When they beat the Steelix, Xerneas could use Geomancy and heal him, so he saw no reason to be bothered.

Provided they could get away from the Trainers watching of course. Not likely. They were probably wondering how he survived a jump like that.

"You two alright?" He asked, as soon as he was over to them.

"We're fine, what about you!?" Goodra fussed, getting up and worriedly looking at his leg. "Is it broken?"

"Think so, but we'll worry about that later. Goodra, I need you to help Noivern- Fire Blast it or something. Zoroark, time for Radiation." Green ordered.

Both pokemon, though they looked worried, nodded. Goodra took off, her mouth sparking with the embers of Fire Blast, ready to fire at will, and Zoroark stretched his neck from side to side.

"Want me to try Overheat?" He asked.

"Yeah, why not?"

Overhead, Noivern was hitting the Steelix with Flamethrower over and over again. Small bursts and big bursts hit again and again, but each time it only made the Steel/Ground snake angrier. It screeched and thrashed around when it was hit with Fire Blast from Goodra.

"That thing doesn't look so happy." Zoroark smirked. "Maybe we should take it to a movie or something."

"Yeah, like it'd fit." Green scoffed. "Get moving, you lazy-ass werewolf."

"Language, little man."

"English."

Zoroark laughed loudly and then started glowing bright red. The glow tuned up until it was nearly blinding, and then the light was gone. In Zoroark's place was a rather terrifying-looking Blaziken was standing there, grinning his face off.

"Light the bastard up." Green smirked. He turned to Goodra and Noivern, still distracting the Steelix. "Hey, guys, get out of there!"

He saw Goodra nod, and then Noivern picked her up and flew out of the way. They landed next to Green, who gently scratched Noivern as thanks, and then turned back to Z-Blaziken.

Z-Blaziken opened his mouth, and a bright and incredibly hot glow started to form within his mouth. Green and the other two 'mons backed away slightly.

The Steelix saw Z-Blaziken charging the attack and Screeched. Noivern fired a Boomburst to counter.

Z-Blaziken stopped charging. Overheat was now a large ball gaining more size as he inhaled, and the Steelix had one second to get a full look of 'oh, crap' before Z-Blaziken fired Overheat.

The attack was basically a massive beam of fire, at least 4000 degrees Celsius, just under three times the melting point of steel. The beam burned through the Steelix's head, and then the rest of its body; even the melted steel was gone by the time Z-Blaziken was done.

Z-Blaziken coughed and ended the attack, and then glowed back into his normal Zoroark self.

"Well, that was cool." Goodra smiled.

"Dude, it wasn't cool, it was _smoking_." Zoroark smirked.

She rolled her eyes.

" _What the hell was that!?"_

Green squeaked and spun around to see a woman with dark blue hair and light blue eyes stamping towards them. He backed away slightly, but didn't get very far before the woman was on him, grabbing his shirt.

"You can't just _murder_ some innocent pokemon like that!" The woman yelled.

"It . . . it attacked us first . . ." Green stammered. He had no idea why he was terrified, he could normally deal with people like this.

"Doesn't matter, you just _killed_ the poor thing!" The woman snapped. She gripped harder, practically snarling, and then some seven year old kid with weird blond hair and green eyes walked up.

"Crys, leave him alone, you're scaring him." The kid said.

"Emerald, you saw what I saw." The woman, Crys apparently, turned to the little boy and let Green go.

He stumbled back a little and Zoroark put an arm in front of him, glaring at the woman.

"I know, but what if it really did attack them first?" Emerald suggested gently. "You know wild Steelix get nasty even if you just walk into their line of sight."

"Yeah, but . . . He killed it!"

"He didn't, his pokemon did. He's hardly responsible for his pokemon being uncontrollable." Emerald said.

"Uh, hello, we're kind of right here." Zoroark muttered.

Green shushed him in case the two overheard. By now the rest of the group were coming over, and the loud man from before was watching the scene with what seemed like smug amusement. He stepped forward, and Green heard a woman with blue eyes mutter 'oh for Mew's sake' before he opened his mouth.

"How about you let me handle this one, Crys?" He suggested.

Crys gave him a look of disbelief before rolling her eyes. She then made a 'be my guest' gesture and stepped away. The man walked over to Green, smirking.

"I suppose you've heard of me." He started.

Green stared. "Uh, no."

" . . . What?" The man seemed shocked. "Best Trainer in the world, greatest Gym leader of our time, said to be the next Master in the making, ring any bells?"

"Not really."

" . . . Champion Red?"

"Oh yeah, him I've heard of." Green nodded. "But I don't see what he has to do with an arrogant twat like you."

About half the group were stunned to silence, and the other half choked on laughter.

"You- you little-!" The man spluttered. "I'm Red! I'm Champion Red, you brat!"

"I didn't notice. I thought Champions were meant to be . . . I dunno, nice and all?" Green asked. They were genuine questions, but he did it all with a smirk and a careless attitude because he was entertaining the majority of the group behind the man.

"Fine then, if that's how you want it!"

Green blinked.

"Uh, weren't you meant to be handling him somehow?" Crys spoke up loudly.

"He insulted me, he needs to be taught a lesson!" The man, Red, snapped.

"Seems the only lesson I'm learning is that the Champion of Kanto is an ass." Green said.

Red glared down at him. "Oh, you're gonna see what I can do, you brat."

 _Nice going, you wanna be inconspicuous and you pick a fight with the Champion of the very region that thinks you're dead. Good one, genius. No common sense indeed._

Five minutes later, they were several metres away from each other, in a makeshift battle-field made quickly by a blonde-haired girl's Golem. Green had returned everyone to their pokeballs and was talking to them quietly. He'd made it out as if he wanted a pep-talk of sorts, but really he needed to tell them not to use any special abilities or kill their opponents.

"I will try the form of a Meganium." Xerneas nodded slowly. "It is similar enough, and I can conceal my use of Geomancy as Synthesis."

"Good. Zoroark, they may or may not already know what you can do, but hopefully they only think that was an overloaded version of Flamethrower- so use that but amp it up so it looks a bit like it, but not so much that you kill the pokemon, got it?" Green said.

"Understood, kid."

"What about us?" Sylveon asked. "We don't really have any special stuff."

" . . . Try not to show off _too_ much." Green half-smiled.

"No promises."

"I'm showing off, and there's nothing you can say to stop me." Gardevoir snapped.

"Good, because I want you to show off. I need you all to look powerful enough that he shuts up, and Gardevoir . . . no offence, but you don't even look threatening."

" . . . I feel offended."

"Hey, are you done!? You giving them a speech about how it's okay to lose?" Red shouted.

"This guy needs to be taken down a peg or five." Green muttered, putting away the pokeballs and standing up.

A few of the group looked like they wanted to cheer, but for who Green wasn't sure. Most likely him since many of them didn't seem to like Red at all.

The battled started when the blue eyed woman stopped explaining the rules.

"Alright, this is a clean match, so no dirty-play, Red I'm looking at you, and no cheating, _Red_ -" Wow, she really didn't suspect Green of anything, did she? "-and there will be no time limit. Assuming the opponent has six pokemon-?"

"I do." Green nodded.

"Good! This will be a six-on-six, unofficial match. If the kid wins, he doesn't become Champion or anything."

Good, he'd hate to basically wave his naked behind at the police by doing that. Now that was an idea . . . no, no, not doing it. That'd be far too indecent for him.

"No switching pokemon out when they've been called, so with that out of the way . . . begin!"

"Alright, Saur!" Red called, chucking out the pokeball.

Green blinked and silently sent in Goodra. Red seemed to be laughing, and then coughed, seemingly having some kind of plan that he didn't want to let Green know about.

It most likely involved some Grass attack. Funny thing about Goodra and its prevolutions, they were often mistaken for Water types- they were actually Dragon types. But Green wasn't going to clue him in anytime soon, and it didn't look like anyone else was going to either, even if they knew.

"Power Whip!" Red ordered.

Venusaur shot some very scary-looking vines out from under his leafy flower and gripped Goodra in them, squeezing. Goodra glanced at Green, who nodded, and then she pretended to be hurt by the attack.

Venusaur seemed to be encouraged by this, and when Red told him to use Take Down, he pulled Goodra in and, with her pretending to be terrified, got ready for a point blank Take Down.

That wasn't what happened.

Goodra suddenly grinned and then let off a massive Fire Blast at point blank, and then flipped out of Venusaur's grasp, landing in front of Green, completely unharmed.

Poor Red looked shocked. A few of the group looked like they wanted to sigh or laugh, but many were also confused. Green decided to be nice and explain the whole thing.

"Goodra's not a Water type." He called. "She's a Dragon type. Also, she has Sap Sipper."

Red looked like he'd been slapped in the face. He quickly recovered and then ordered a Cut. Green supposed the Grass/Poison type had two Grass moves, since Cut was pretty weak, and Venusaur had already taken serious damage from the Fire Blast.

And besides, Cut kind of required the use of vines in Venusaur's case, so Goodra just used a smaller Fire Blast to burn them away. They'd grow back anyway, so no worries.

"Goodra, can you end this? It's . . . kind of embarrassing." Green finally sighed, after the fifth failed attempt at using Cut.

"Sure." Goodra whispered, then yelled a variant of her species' name and charged forward.

Venusaur blinked and tried to step away, but he was too slow. Goodra built up power and speed until she was surrounded in a large energy . . . shield thing, and then smashed into Venusaur, sending him flying to the other end of the beach field, on his back.

"Nice Giga Impact." Green said as Goodra came back over. "Might need to work on the speed though, faster opponents won't just sit there."

Goodra smiled and nodded slightly, then got into a fighting position. By now, Red was probably wary of her, so he'd surely send out something that could beat her, or at least hurt her.

"Poli!"

Why he seemed to want to shout out what pokemon he was sending in was beyond Green, who was used to not being so dramatic. A tough-look Poliwrath appeared, calm and poised, and bowed to Goodra, who giggled and did a mock-curtsey.

"I like him." Goodra whispered. "He's nice."

"Good manners, but can he fight?" Green asked.

"Let's find out, then."

The two exploded into action. Strictly speaking, Goodra only had one physical attack, and she needed to recharge after using it- but Goodra was better than that. Instead of staying immobile like most pokemon, she used the time between recharging to basically do a melee attack on the opponent.

This seemed to surprise Poliwrath, but he quickly recovered and blocked the incoming punch with his gloved fist. Goodra laughed, clearly heard from even where Green was standing, and switched to her foot.

She kicked and kicked, and each time was blocked by Poliwrath's fists- Green realised he was using Dynamic Punch to make his blocks faster. Impressive. Red hadn't even given him an order yet.

Then Goodra suddenly jumped away and nodded. Green rolled his eyes, feeling slightly sorry, and shouted.

"Thunder!"

Goodra lifted her arm to the sky, and a black cloud appeared slowly. Poliwrath hadn't been idle during the time it took for it to form however- Red had finally given him an order.

"Brick Break!" Red called. "And hurry!"

However, Poliwrath wasn't quick enough. By the time he got halfway to Goodra, she had summoned a massive bolt of thunder down on him, and he was fried.

"Nice one!" Green called.

Goodra sent a thumbs up his way, and then turned back to Poliwrath. Even if it seemed like he was down, he might have been pulling a trick. Green noticed a slight shift in the sand under Goodra.

It seemed shiny, and it looked like he'd seen it before . . . but where? Kind of bluish, but still translucent . . . wait . . .

Ice Beam! Son of a . . .!

"Goodra, he's using Ice Beam! Under your feet!" Green shouted.

Too late. The Ice Beam moved before Goodra could escape, and the ice shot up and attacked her. She screeched and smashed it blindly, sending most of it flying away, but she'd been hurt. Green could see it plainly.

Alright then, plan B.

"Melee, again!" Green called.

Goodra snapped into action, much like when the fight had begun. Despite her icy wounds, she burst forward with such speed that even Green was a bit surprised, and started randomly assaulting Poliwrath, who again used Dynamic Punch to block most of her attacks.

However, a few got through, mostly on the head. Or what Green thought was the head. Poliwrath managed to get a few hits of his own in as well, still using Dynamic Punch.

Though neither attacks did much, they were clearly making both sides tired, and soon enough Goodra slipped up and ended up taking a hit to the stomach. She coughed and was blown back by a Hydro Pump from Poliwrath's . . . stomach?

Green checked her, and saw that she was fine- just knocked out. Thank Mew for that. He returned her and glanced up at Red.

"Good pokemon you got there." He called.

"Thanks!" Red grinned.

"Pity you're not as smart as him."

"Oh for-"

Green sent in Sylveon.

Sylveon took one look at his opponent and sent a flat look at Green, who shrugged.

"You could have sent in Noivern."

"He has Ice Beam."

" . . . Ah. There go my plans. Oh well."

Green rolled his eyes and pointed. Sylveon grinned and stepped up to the plate, so to speak, wiggling his tail and smirking at Poliwrath.

" . . . I've never seen one of those before."

Good, that meant he wouldn't know what hit him. Green nodded and stepped back, Sylveon normally did whatever the hell he wanted anyway, so there was no point in telling him to use a move when the Fairy type knew exactly what to do anyway.

Poliwrath tried a Hydro Pump right off the bat, and then was surprised when Sylveon simply hopped out of the way and shot a scowl at him.

"Sylveon, it's a battle." Green called.

Sylveon rolled his eyes and then stood, and shot a Moonblast at Poliwrath. Most of the group watching, and Red himself, cried out in shock at the sudden light that sped towards the Fighting/Water type, who was shot back.

Green didn't even need to look to see that Poliwrath was down. Red's face said everything.

"What in Giratina's name was that!?" He cried.

"I'll tell you after we kick your ass."

Red growled and returned Poliwrath. "Fine then. Let's see how you deal with this! Snor!"

Oh, Snorlax. Those were hard to find nowadays. Green remembered back in Kanto, when he'd been . . . not Cursed, those things had been practically everywhere in the worst possible places. He wondered how Red had gotten one.

Probably illegal buying or something.

Sylveon merely stared at the large pokemon. He tilted his head and circled it, scrutinizing the Normal type.

"Sylveon, get to work already." Green sighed.

Sylveon shot a flat look over at him and then used Covet. The thing with Sylveon was that he had Pixilate, so all of his attacks were basically Fairy typed, which meant he always got a STAB out of them all. Covet was one such move, Normal typed, but with the Pixilate it became Fairy.

Snorlax wasn't holding anything, so Sylveon sighed and used Protect, seemingly for a completely random reason.

"Use Strength!" Red called.

Snorlax roared a little and smashed his fist down on the shield, which Sylveon completely ignored. His Protect shields were always the best, though Green wondered if it was because of the Pixilate thing making the shield better.

" . . . Now!" Green shouted, as soon as Snorlax reared up for another attack.

Sylveon quickly broke the shield and then used Last Resort. Snorlax went out like a light.

"Well, that didn't last long. I was under the impression that Snorlax were more powerful, and could take better hits." Green called. "Have you been training lately?"

Red spluttered and then growled, sending in an Aerodactyl called Aero. Creative names, kind of, but Green wasn't honestly impressed- that Rock Gym leader from Kalos had two fossil pokemon. Both were pretty dammed awesome.

Sylveon yawned and shot a Last Resort at Aerodactyl, who squawked in shock and dodged the attack narrowly.

That turned into a bit of a game- Sylveon tried to hit Aerodactyl, and Aerodactyl tried to avoid the attacks. However, Aerodactyl had a disadvantage; he had to move around while Sylveon just sat still and aimed. Soon enough he began to tire, so much that Sylveon got in at least three hits before he fell down.

Aerodactyl wasn't out though. He scrambled back up, looking to be on his last leg, and staggered towards Sylveon, who tapped him on the head and watched him fall down.

Red wordlessly returned Aerodactyl. Green wondered what his last two pokemon were, and did a quick count. So far, he'd used Goodra and Sylveon. If Sylveon was beaten, Green would send out either Noivern or Zoroark, he wasn't going to risk sending out Xerneas yet.

"Gyara, your turn!" Red snapped.

Out came a massive beast of a dragon that, frankly, didn't seem that terrifying when a small butterfly floated past and he watched it with wide, puppy eyes. Green gave a 'really' look at Red and then ordered a Moonblast.

Big mistake.

Whatever was wrong with this Gyarados, it was kind of like Noivern. Massive kid, liked simple stuff and all that . . . but could turn violent and blood-thirsty in seconds if provoked.

Sylveon screeched when Gyarados leaned down and snorted at him, glaring with the eyes of a serpent. Sylveon whimpered and shot a pleading look at Green, and was then shot away by a massive Hydro Pump.

Green returned him before he hit the cliff, and then turned back to Gyarados. He was back to the big puppy thing again. Green rolled his eyes a little, still reminded of Noivern, and sent in his next pokemon.

"And I've never seen that one before either." Red remarked, watching Noivern with confused eyes.

"Oh for- he's from Kalos, you moron!" Green snapped, finally having enough of Red's stupidity. And asshole-ishness.

"Where and what is Kalos?"

 _I give up._

"Noivern, Boomburst." Green flatly said.

Red almost asked what the attack was before Noivern answered for him. The Dragon/Flying type screeched so loudly it caused visible sound waves, all of which were tinted a weird blue colour. They all zeroed in on Gyarados, who was still oblivious, and then hit him with the force of a thousand men.

However, an enraged Gyarados is generally not a good thing to provoke.

Green had forgotten that bit of very useful advice until the last second, and then pulled back and slipped on his broken leg when the massive beast reared up and screamed.

"Gyara, no, calm down, it's just a battle!" Red yelled, waving his arms around. "No one wants to seriously hurt you!"

Bad choice of words.

This made the Gyarados even more violent, and he twisted until he was literally a coil of blue and white, and then snapped out.

Noivern, who had been hovering in confusion, was whacked out of the sky and threw into the ocean. Gyarados's head came near Green and snarled at him, and the boy tried to crawl away, but his leg was finally coming back to haunt him.

Well, at least he couldn't die.

That was the last thought he had before Gyarados fired a massive Hyper Beam.

 **OOOOOO**

Renny: Well, you all know it's not a cliffhanger since we know he can't die.

Green: But they're gonna guess what's happening now, so . . .

Renny: Heh. Guess away people, I like that. Because it sometimes gives me ideas.

Red: So some of the ideas you get are stolen?

Renny: Hey, I borrow them and expand them, big difference. Read and review!


	3. Chapter 3

Renny: Like I said, Red's gonna be an ass.

Red: But in every other fanfic you have I'm a good guy!

Renny: Well, yeah, you're still good . . . but not nice, that's all.

Red: *sighs*

Renny: Heh. Alright, disclaimer!

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon . . .

Renny: Why the long face? On with the show!

 **OOOOOO**

When Green woke up, he heard voices. He quickly pretended to sleep in case they were talking about him, and he was right. First he felt a bit confused as to why they were talking about him, then he panicked slightly because no one survived a Hyper Beam at point blank range unless you were a pokemon, and then he was scared.

" _But it can't be him, otherwise he'd have killed us by now!"_

Oh, wait a second . . .

" _But the kid has to be called the Phantom for a reason, right?"_

He was scared for the wrong reason.

" _It can't be him, Blue."_

" _Open your dammed eyes and smell the coffee, you idiot! This kid looks exactly like the one from the TV, and the kid from the TV is a killer and a thief!"_

" _You're a thief too."_

" _I know, but do I go around killing for fun? According to Platinum, Looker said he killed 'because people got in the way' or whatever she said he said."_

Yay, they were gonna turn him in to the police and he'd be executed for treason or something. And then they'd wonder why he wasn't dead when he was suddenly alive a few hours later.

" _Look, all we have to do is ask him, and-"_

" _Are you retarded as well as arrogant!? He'd lie and say he wasn't the Phantom Thief! He's probably done this before!"_

" _Done what before?"_

" _Gained someone's trust, isolated them, and then killed them."_

Actually, Green preferred the quick way. If he gained someone's trust, he got attached to them, and he only wanted to be attached to his pokemon.

" _Well, he's not doing a very good job. Half the team agrees with you and the other half are weirded out by the fact that he didn't die from taking a Hyper Beam to the face!"_

" _Does it matter?"_

" _Yes! He should be dead!"_

Technically, Green should have been dead ten years ago, when Koga first tried to kill him.

He cracked open his eyes and saw that he was in someone's bedroom. The bed was too soft for his liking, and kind of really big, so he assumed this must have been either Red or Blue's house or something. The bed was opposite the door, and a window was on the left side of the room, while the right wall was bare. The wall the bed was on was in between these two, and there was a desk just next to the bed.

No one was in the room, so maybe the two were outside having a discussion or something. He kind of hoped they wouldn't notice him sitting up in bed.

" _Look, why don't you just go back Sevii Islands and relax for a while? Take Silver with you, alright?"_

" _Since when did you give a damn? And besides, I want to figure this out as much as you do! It's just that I'm worried that harbouring a killer isn't the best way to get on the law's good side, you know."_

" _He can't be the Phantom Thief, for Mew's sake!"_

Green rolled his eyes. Whoever this Blue woman was, she was smart. Red obviously wasn't. And by the sounds of it, he was in Red's house, so he decided to go over to the window and see if it was unlocked.

Oh, hey, he wasn't limping. That meant his leg had been healed while he was resurrected as well. Sometimes that happened, sometimes it didn't- it was kind of like Orre Roulette or something.

The window was unlocked, so Green quietly opened it and looked outside. The house seemed to have two floors plus whatever was occupying the space in the loft, and when he looked Green could see a small pipe that he could easily slide down. Years of climbing sheer walls and such made this kind of thing easy, and since he was light he wouldn't make much noise or break the pipe.

He climbed out the window, thankful that he was small enough to get through, and then sighed. He'd forgotten to get his pokemon.

No need to worry though, they were all there on the desk nearby the bed. The ones that were awake gave him a flat stare as he winced in apology, and then clampered back into the room to grab them. Then he went back to the window and was halfway out when the door suddenly opened.

"Holy shit, he's jumping!" The blue eyed woman from the beach cried. Green guessed she was Blue.

"Wait, kid, no!" Red yelled.

Green stared at them, unimpressed.

"I just survived a Hyper Beam and a Steelix attack in less than an hour and you're worried about me jumping out of a window?" He scoffed. "Wow, you're idiots."

"No, it's just . . . look, are you the Phantom Thief?" Blue asked.

"I thought you said you weren't gonna ask!" Red snapped.

"Circumstances have changed!"

"What if I was the Thief?" Green broke in. "I'm not saying I am, because who'd want to be a willing murderer, but still."

"Well . . . you're wanted by Kanto and Kalos, you know." Blue said carefully. "And every other region is on high alert for you."

"I didn't say I was the Thief."

"Fine, hypothetically, but still! Is it really a good idea to go out when you could easily get arrested and executed?" Blue demanded.

He had to remind himself that they didn't know he wasn't able to die, so he let Blue think that he was afraid of dying. Technically he still was scared of it, but more in the sense of how he would die rather than actually dying.

Dying so many times was probably why he was called the Phantom Thief- someone had obviously seen him die before in Kalos, so they'd reported it, and then suddenly he'd appeared again. Alive.

Or maybe he was called the Phantom because he did whatever he wanted and no one could stop him or catch him, much like a phantom.

Whatever.

"I'm more careful then that." Green told her. At least they weren't trying to figure out why he looked like Oak's apparently dead grandson. Or maybe he'd been away for so long that the region had forgotten? Hopefully, anyway.

But he'd need a different name, even if he was called the Phantom Thief. Couldn't call himself Phantom or anything, anyway.

"Uh-huh, sure. Hey, I never got your name." Blue said. "What is it?"

"You first." He said, trying to make it look like he hadn't been eavesdropping.

"Ok then. The name's Blue Gunner, I'm a pokedex holder from Kanto, along with Red Hawks and Yellow de Viridian Grove."

Green raised an eyebrow at the long name, getting into a sitting position on the window sill. Blue seemed to relax when she realised he wasn't going to jump anytime soon, but he was only staying because this conversation sort of interested him.

Blue Gunner, apparently a thief. She could probably tell a lie a mile off, but Green was willing to risk it to see if she could see through him. If so, she could be a worthy adversary. Or something. If not, then maybe a partner in crime or whatever.

"So, what's your name?" Blue asked.

"Castiel, but you can call me Cas." Green said.

"Fancy name for someone who doesn't wear shoes." Blue remarked, briefly looking at his feet.

"I have a thing against them." Green smoothly told her.

"See, nothing to worry about." Red hissed to Blue. "He's not the Phantom, he's just some kid with problems against shoes and authority."

"You're not authority so long as you're an ass." Green said loudly.

Red glared at him.

"Alright, fine, let's say you're not the Phantom Thief for now." Blue said. "How about that Hyper Beam? How'd you manage that?"

Red looked kind of smug to see that she was asking the question that he had been, but she shut him up with a jab to the stomach.

"I'm tougher then I look." Green told her, which was a blatant lie. He was about as tough as he looked, but he could still kill if he wanted to.

"Not even a grown man can take a Hyper Beam from that range and live without a scratch." Red muttered. He seemed to finally get rid of his stupid arrogance and get serious. Green wondered if he had a nice side as well.

"Like I said, tough." Green shrugged.

"Sure you are, scarecrow."

Scarecrow? Seriously? Was this man really that stupid?

"Look, why don't you hide out here for a while, Red's house is pretty cool." Blue suggested. Red jolted.

"What!? I never agreed to let him stay in my house!" He snapped.

"Too bad, you jerk." Blue snapped back. "You need to learn how to actually care for others, and looking after a little kid like Cas should be good enough."

Green almost said that technically he wasn't a little kid, but he had two ways that would go down- they'd laugh and say 'of course you're not' like he was some baby or something, which would be embarrassing, or they'd ask him what he meant and he'd fumble trying to give a good reason why he had spoken up.

He kept quiet.

"I'm not getting out of this, am I?" Red sighed, putting a hand on his face.

"If you want I can get Crystal to make you take him."

"Whatever."

Blue left, and Red glared at Green before following her.

Green briefly wondered if he could still make a run for it, but then Xerneas came out of his pokeball and gave him a stern look, much like the one he used on Sylveon when the Fairy type had grabbed certain packs of whatever. Green still wasn't sure why Xerneas was so against the packs.

"They have offered you hospitality for the time being, we should take advantage of it." Xerneas told him.

"Need I remind you of the last time we tried this?" Green sighed, coming off the sill and closing the window even as he spoke. "The guy tried to . . . bad touch me."

"That was a fat and lonely, and very shallow, man. This is the Champion of Kanto." Xerneas told him.

"Who happens to be a complete asshole that hates my guts and would probably do anything to get rid of me." Green said in complete deadpan.

"True, but it is unlikely that he would do anything to you other than be an 'asshole'." Xerneas shrugged a little bit. "So far, it seems as though the majority of the group from the beach want you to stay, if only to find out about your origins and such."

"Yeah, they wanna know if I'm the Phantom Thief, but since I am, why should we stay?"

" . . . We get free food?"

Green blinked, opened his mouth, and then closed it. He tried again.

"Fine, we'll stay. But only for a little while."

 **oooo**

Green wasn't entirely sure about this, but since Xerneas had said they'd get free food, he supposed they could stay until he got bored or something.

He also wasn't sure about the amount of visitors that Red seemed to get, namely the other pokedex holders. Green remembered his own pokedex, and wondered what had happened to it- had Team Rocket stolen it and used it for their own purposes, or had they just smashed it and sent it to his grandfather to torment him?

From little snips of conversations that the pokedex holders didn't seem to think he or his pokemon couldn't hear, Green was able to find out that Red, along with Blue, had taken down Team Rocket. Then something happened with some Elite Four freaks, where Red was kidnapped and Blue had sent Yellow to save him.

Then Team Rocket had apparently appeared again in Johto, this time with Gold, Silver and Crys (or Crystal, as she seemed to hate that he called her by her nickname, maybe it was for friends only?) taking them down. He found out a bit about Silver and Blue's pasts together, and found he was a bit sympathetic- after all, he'd been homeless for the past ten years and had turned into a killer and a thief, so he wasn't really one to judge.

After that, apparently Ruby and Sapphire had saved the whole of Hoenn from some monsters called Kyogre and Groudon, and had come from an alternate time reality or something. Green tried not to understand it, even though Xerneas seemed to get it.

Then he learned about the Sevii Islands incident, in which Giovanni had tried to find his son, Silver, and had gone to extreme lengths to do so. That all led to the Kanto dexholders, along with Silver, being frozen into stone by some crazy woman called Sird.

Then Emerald had gone to Hoenn in search of the Battle Frontier, a facility that reminded Green of the Battle Maison back in Kalos, and then some stuff happened which Green couldn't care less about, and the petrified dexholders had been shipped to the Battle Frontier. Emerald had apparently saved them by connecting with Jirachi, but Green already knew this from Xerneas, who knew the same Jirachi that had been in the adventure.

(Common misconception about Jirachi- there was more than one, much like there were many Xerneas, and they only appeared in certain places at certain times of the year. However, this had been lost in translation, as it were, because of the legends that humans of the old ages had created to try and make sense of the Legendry pokemon.)

Then Platinum, Diamond and Pearl had met in Sinnoh, and after a slight misunderstanding, they'd became friends. They soon got involved with some maniac group called Team Galactic, and had eventually taken them down. Afterwards, Platinum had been in some fancy hotel somewhere Green hadn't heard of, and then she and her friends had gotten caught up in yet another Galactic scheme- only this time, Sird was also involved. They beat Sird, but apparently she disappeared again.

Then the story went back to Johto, where Gold, Silver and Crystal tried to, yet again, try and save the entire region. This time it involved yet another remake of Team Rocket, and apparently Silver made up with his father after they defeated a fake Giratina, Palkia and Dialga.

Green could have assured these people that the real ones were incredibly angry at that, and Arceus wasn't exactly willing to give bad humans a second chance unless they proved themselves worthy or something.

He wasn't sure what happened in Unova, but from what Sylveon said, it involved some insane group led by a man who could understand pokemon, trying to 'liberate' all pokemon from Trainers. Black apparently became the Hero of Truth or something, and defeated the man in an epic battle in their pokemon League. He didn't become Champion however, as the battle had been unofficial and both Trainers had broken the rules. But he'd become a member of the BW Agency, which his traveling companion, White, owned and ran.

He found all of that out within three days, with a mix of his own eavesdropping skills, Sylveon's skills, and Gardevoir's reluctant use of Psychic. Green had never really stayed in one place for more than three days, so he was sort of cutting it close, and he was constantly worried about whether or not the police would turn up with shackles.

However, Blue and Yellow were adamant that he stayed, and Crystal seemed to have set up a watch of Ghost types around the perimeter of the house, that, just by being there at _night_ , terrified Green so much he normally stayed huddled in bed, with Noivern or one of the others trying to comfort him.

On some occasions, he was actually able to sleep. He always dreamed when he did.

 **oooo**

 _He watched as the eternal child crept through the night, in some run-down part of a massive city he didn't recognise. The child's arms were full of food, most of it stuff that looked like it was a day or three over the expiration date._

 _A Sliggoo silently slipped beside the child, keeping watch as the boy crept. Eventually he saw the eternal boy come up to an alley, and then the boy went inside while the Sliggoo kept watch again._

 _There was a woman at the end of the alley, her stomach bloated with child, sleeping fitfully. The boy gently woke her up and helped her eat the food. This continued for the next few weeks, the boy almost getting caught several times, before the woman finally cried out in her sleep as the boy moved to wake her again._

 _It happened almost too fast- the baby was out and bloody, and the woman was barely breathing, by the time it was all over. The woman whispered something to the eternal child- a plea to save her child- and the boy agreed, just as the woman took her last breath._

 _The eternal boy cleaned the baby up with the help of a Zoroark in the form of a Wartortle, and the baby was healed by none other than one of the gods themselves- a Xerneas. He would have been shocked had he not already sensed the Legendry's presence with the child._

 _While they looked after the baby, a Kirlia stole milk from shops that sold specialised drinks for babies and mothers who can't feed them. While the baby was being fed and cared for by the Sliggoo, Kirlia and Xerneas, the boy had been busy- the eternal child and the Zoroark had been looking through different places that he didn't recognise again, looking for a place for the baby to be raised in when it was old enough to be fed proper food._

 _The time finally came, and the boy and his team- now consisting of a scarred Noibat, the Xerneas, the Zoroark, the Sliggoo, and the Kirlia that was now a Gardevoir- the boy and his team went to an old town with stones in the middle of it, bringing the baby to an orphanage inside._

 _The boy, riding upon the Xerneas, set the baby down in front of the orphanage and knocked the door loudly. The Xerneas then ran away, but stayed long enough for the person who opened the door to see him, but not the boy as he had been concealed by the magic that Xerneas owned._

 _The person who had opened the door had obviously taken the baby as a sign of some sort, and took the baby with a small nod towards Xerneas, who bowed his head in thanks. Then Xerneas took off into the night, taking the eternal boy with him._

Vee opened his eyes and stared at the eternal child in front of him. The memory had been strange, yes, but it was a good one. Or, the Espeon assumed it was a good one. The boy had saved a child, on the promise of a dying mother. He had honoured her wish for her child to live.

That was good enough for him, and would no doubt satisfy the other pokemon who were waiting for his judgement.

The Gardevoir beside him, the very same one from the dream memory, was watching him intently.

"Well?" She demanded softly.

"He is . . . most interesting." Vee told her. "I find his memories to be a strange and tangled mess, but when I was able to pull some out, I saw nothing but kindness. Whatever else the child has done, his good deeds make up for them."

"So, that means you lot won't judge him like he's some stupid idiot anymore?" Gardevoir asked, crossing her arms.

She was a little rude, maybe a little defiant, but she had a good heart and it was in the right place. She was only worried for her Trainer, her friend.

"I cannot attest for the humans, especially my own, but as for the teams . . . yes, we will trust him wholeheartedly." Vee said.

"Good."

 **oooo**

Up until now, it had only been his own team that had chosen to be with him. Mainly because he'd known them for so long that it felt wrong to be apart from them, but it had only been him and his team.

And then suddenly the dexholders' pokemon wanted to be with him as well. He was constantly used as a watch tower by Pika, Red's Pikachu, apologised to by Gyara, and many other pokemon just simply hung out with him and his team.

He wasn't sure if the other dexholders had noticed, but he'd seen several of them watching the one time he and his own team were acting out a story that he'd found in a fairy tale book a few months ago. He wasn't sure if they counted that as anything.

After even four days, he could somehow bear it, if only because he suddenly had a lot of beings that wanted to be near him simply for the sake of it, not because they wanted to watch him closely or something.

But Green was wondering where his grandfather was, and why he hadn't seen the old man. Or maybe, impossibly, the old man had died during his time away? Green thought that weird. He'd always thought of his grandfather as immortal- maybe even outliving Green himself.

But anyway, why hadn't Oak turned up? Green was sure that, as 'Kanto dexholders', Oak would want to check up on them every so often. But it was also a good thing that he stayed away, because Green didn't want to risk being recognised by his family.

They would die from the shock.

But anyway, he'd stayed way too long. One day was bad enough, but four days . . . as grateful he was to the pokemon for making it bearable, he didn't want to stay and get turned over when the dexholders finally agreed that he was the Phantom Thief.

He'd already caught a few conversations, and he knew that a few were kind of on his side.

"What if he is the Phantom, Yellow? What're you gonna do then?" Gold had demanded, outside.

Again, they seemed to think he couldn't hear them. Idiots.

"But anyone who's nice to pokemon must be a good person!" Yellow cried.

"What about Lance? I know he's kind of a good guy now, but when you first met him, he was nice to pokemon and wanted to kill all humans." Gold snapped.

"Um . . ."

"For all we know, he could be plotting to kill us right now!"

After that, Yellow had taken her pokemon away and had gone back to Viridian city. Green kind of felt bad about seeing her go, since she was the only one who was a little bit nice to him.

Then he told himself he was being stupid. Being around this many people kind of unnerved him a lot, especially when the majority of them were so suspicious it killed you. They had damn good reasons to be suspicious, but it wouldn't hurt to loosen up a bit, sheesh!

"We've been here for too long." Zoroark said one night.

"I agree." Gardevoir spoke up, glaring at the door. "The pokemon are nice and all, but there's only so much fluff I can take before I vomit."

"Try being human as well." Green sighed.

"I had thought you did not want the companionship of people?" Xerneas asked.

"Well, I don't, but . . . I don't know why, but this lot's different. They just feel . . . weird." Green failed at explaining things, seriously.

"I get it." Goodra spoke up from her space next to Noivern. "They were nice to me, the humans, and I felt like I wanted to be friends with them, but they still seemed wary- I guess that's because of both you and Zoroark."

"Maybe I should have just had you use Flamethrower instead . . ." Green murmured. "Would have been better, and then . . . we wouldn't have picked a fight with anyone, and we'd just be clapped a bit and then we'd be able to leave."

"Hey, if it was your fault for telling me to do it, it was my fault for doing it." Zoroark told him, holding up his hands like he was surrendering or something.

Green rolled his eyes. Of course they would also try and take the blame, but as the unofficial Trainer, he was responsible.

" . . . Maybe we should leave?" Sylveon spoke up, settled down on Green's . . . Red's guest bed.

"Leave? Now?" Green squeaked. "W-with all the Ghosts around?"

"If we can get past them we'll be fine." Goodra soothed.

"It's not that . . ."

"Green." Xerneas said softly, as Noivern stood and made his way over to wrap his wings around Green as usual. "We know you fear them, and for a very good reason, but it was only one Ghost who Cursed you. You need not fear the others simply because they are of the same type."

"I-I know, but . . ."

Noivern cooed and pushed his head onto Green's. The small boy leaned into the touch, watching the rest of the team with half-closed eyes.

"Hey, I could just Night Daze them all and we'd be home free." Zoroark said.

"Yeah, but what if some of them are immune?" Gardevoir snapped. "You ever think of that?"

"As if! There's not a single pokemon that's immune to Dark!"

"Weak maybe, partially immune, but not completely immune." Sylveon nodded. "Garde, you really need to read some of Green's books."

"Didn't we leave those back in Kalos?" Goodra asked.

"Damn, we did." Green sighed. He slumped back, feeling Noivern's fur against his back and head. "If I had enough sense I'd have nabbed a bag at some point as well."

"Considering how we always put back the books when we're done with them, I don't think it was necessary." Zoroark snorted.

"We did not always replace the books." Xerneas said. "Sometimes we used them as a diversion for escaping, or we accidently lost them."

"I did like the ones I took." Green mused. "They were good, informative sometimes, and creative. Though the stuff about the Legendry pokemon was mostly wrong according to you?"

"Yes, and I do not like the fact that my kind is 'pegged down', as you humans say, to just a single solitary creature that was sealed in a cocoon for eternity. He chose that life! And now humans thinks we do not exist outside of him!"

Ok, so, maybe Green shouldn't show Xerneas some of the books he'd read before he got Cursed.

"And do not get me started on Yveltals-"

"Ok, I think that's enough for one night." Goodra interrupted, patting Xerneas's head.

They didn't leave that night, simply because if they tried Xerneas would probably just blast his way out with Flash Cannon or something. After the team had been returned, all except Noivern who wanted to stay and act as a pillow/bed thing for Green, the boy settled down.

Noivern cooed and started making soft sounds as they curled up together, lulling Green into sleep. It struck him as ironic that he was normally the one who took care of Noivern, but when it was night it was the other way around. Perhaps it was like an unspoken agreement of sorts.

He woke up the next morning wrapped up in a cocoon of fur and scales, upside down. Noivern had apparently done his normal night-time stuff and had dug a hole in the ceiling, then hung himself from it, taking a still-sleeping Green with him.

Who didn't care one bit, because if Noivern let you sleep with him like this, it meant he loved you very much and trusted you to no ends.

So that was how Red, who was going to wake him up for breakfast again, walked in to find him. Red stared for five seconds before throwing his hands up and then sat on the floor, looking pissed off.

"What?" Green said, softly so he wouldn't wake up Noivern.

"I've spent nearly five days with you, and yet you do the weirdest stuff. First it was that dumb pantomime for the pokemon, then you stole pretty much every book I own-"

"You didn't have that many, I assumed you wouldn't notice." Green told him.

"Whatever. You stole all the books I own, you returned them with scribbles all over them-"

"Only the stuff about Legendry pokemon. One of my team is . . . very particular about it."

"And that's another thing! I know you have six pokemon, and the last one's a Meganium, but I've never seen you let it out!" Red cried quietly. "What, is the thing toxic or something?"

"Gardevoir knows that move, Toxic." Green broke in.

Red stared. "Who even teaches a Gardevoir Toxic?"

"Um, me?"

"Yeah, you're in a whole different league, aren't you."

"Of course I am, I have a brain, unlike a certain human being who is currently sitting on the floor looking like an idiot." Green said calmly.

"Who's the one hanging Golbat-style from the ceiling with a massive dragon acting as a harness?" Red snapped.

"Hey, I like it from up here." Green shrugged slightly. "Makes me feel like one of the team, not just the guy who tries to run things and ends up getting overrun by a Dark type werewolf."

He saw a small rattle from one of the pokeballs on the desk and smirked at it, sticking his tongue out. Red coughed to gain his attention.

"Whatever, my point is, I don't think any of your weirdness is gonna surprise me anymore." The jerkass said. "Fix the damn roof and I won't tell everyone about your Golbat-style bed."

"I like it up here," Green repeated. "So why would I care if you tell the dexholders?"

" . . . You little brat."

"Come on, there has to be a better insult then that. You sound like a three year old." Green snorted.

"Twit."

"Even worse."

"Moron?"

"That's you, not me."

"You know what, fuck this." Red barked, standing up. He glared at Green. "No breakfast for you today, understand?"

He slammed the door on his way out, waking up Noivern. Green just rolled his eyes.

"Like we haven't gone without breakfast before, asshole." He muttered. "I swear, if we ever get the chance again, I'm kicking his sorry ass."

Noivern cooed.

 **OOOOOO**

Renny: I never actually realised how far I'd gone into the chapter before realising that I should probably stop at 5,000 or so words.

Green: You went overboard didn't you.

Renny: Yep. Anyway, read and review!


	4. Chapter 4

Renny: This is where it all gets interesting. Now, for me, this is going a little bit fast- but considering the length of the chapters so far, it'd probably have at least eight or nine chapters instead of . . . what, four now?

Red: So you're saying that this is better?

Renny: Certainly better than the original one, which was completely shit. For one thing, Green's not the equivalent of a baby in big shoes, he's homeless, which gives him a bit more character, and Red doesn't believe him the second he sees him. That was my worst mistake on the last one- the dexholders have been through too much to trust many people outside the ones they know.

Red: Huh. Well, it makes sense at least. But does anyone find out about Green being, well, Green?

Renny: Soon, but first . . . disclaimer!

Green: This time I'm the one left out. Feels weird. Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

 **OOOOOO**

" _You say there is reason to believe the murderer known as the Phantom Thief is here? In Kanto?"_ The news reporter gasped.

" _Yes."_ Doctor TC, or Looker, said solemnly. _"I myself saw him escape onto a boat that I later found was headed for Kanto, so I have come here to apprehend the boy."_

" _Looker, what are your thoughts on the Phantom?"_ The news reporter asked carefully. _"Surely you must be thinking of how a child of his talent is wasted in this kind of life?"_

" _He is wasted, but even if he were on my side, I would still be wary of him."_ Looker warned. _"From what I've gathered, pieces of information about him that were scattered in newspapers and clippings from over the years, and from what I've seen myself, he's ruthless. No heart, no remorse. He'd kill without a second thought, just to get someone's dinner money."_

" _Have you ever considered that there may be a reason? Perhaps he needs to do all of this to live, maybe he's being controlled, blackmailed even?"_ The news reporter asked.

" _I would have known if that were the case. It's in their eyes, you see."_ Looker explained. _"You can tell a willing killer from a reluctant one- and besides, he's been around for, what, nearly ten years now?"_

" _Ten years? But he can't be more than nine or ten by the way you described him!"_

" _Yes, but here's the tricky part. It's why he's called the Phantom- he was seen dead several times, but by the time the police of Kalos got to him, the only thing left of him was blood. Nothing else. Then he'd turn up a few days later, completely unharmed and unchanged. A lot of rumours say he was Cursed by Arceus himself, because he was such an evil human being."_

" _But for a little boy to be so evil that Arceus Cursed him . . ."_

" _I know some people may be sympathetic with him, saying that he may have had a bad start in life, but he's evil. It doesn't matter what happened to him in the past, what matters is what he does now. And right now, he's in Kanto, probably doing the exact same thing he did in Kalos."_ Looker muttered, but the cameras picked it up perfectly fine.

Then an image of the Phantom Thief appeared on screen, next to the two. It was a small boy with brown spikey hair, vibrant green eyes, pale skin. He wore a blue scarf that looked like it could have covered half his face if he wanted it to, a purple long-sleeved shirt, and dark coloured jeans. No shoes.

 _Yep, I'm screwed._

Green took off just as Red shot up, shouting something about Cas, and Blue tried to calm him down.

"What is it?" Sylveon asked, as Green burst into the room.

"There was just a news report- Looker's here!" He panted. "He's making me out to a really bad person, evil through and through, all the nine yards!"

"Well, looks like escape plan night time has been moved to day time." Zoroark muttered. "Do we go out the way we planned?"

"There aren't any ghosts wandering around this time, so no. Everyone but Sylveon, I need you in your pokeballs."

He put them all away and turned to the Fairy type Eeveelution.

"What do you need me to do?" Sylveon asked.

"Follow behind me and make sure no one follows us." Green instructed. "We're going back to the beach, to the cave. If a Steelix managed to get from Mt Silver to here, we should be able to get to Mt Silver ourselves."

"Good plan."

"Great, let's put it into action!"

They were halfway to the beach when Green realised that he'd subconsciously given the dexholders a way to find him. The beach would be where they would check first, and he'd just . . . And he called them idiots.

But maybe he wanted to be found.

When they got to the beach, he immediately went straight for the secluded part. Sylveon followed at a distance, running at an angle so he could see if anyone was coming after them. He said nothing, so Green assumed that meant the coast was clear.

They found the cave almost immediately, and Green paused to take a breath. Sylveon ran up beside him, shook himself out and promptly sat down.

"Why did we run all the way . . .?" He panted.

"Oh please, you've run for far longer before." Green muttered, sitting down next to his pokemon and friend. He himself was a bit out of breath, but considering he had the body of a child . . . well, he thought it was allowed.

Then he heard the sound of leather wings, and he groaned. Perfect.

A large Aerodactyl came down just in front of them, a few feet away, and Red jumped off him. He looked angry, but that wasn't exactly new. The point of his anger was, however.

"I should have seen this coming." He hissed, walking up. He stayed away however, as if afraid of getting too close and being killed.

"I look just like the kid in the picture, you probably should have." Green told him.

"Stop your damn snark!" Red snarled. "Is this kind of thing funny to you? Gain someone's trust and then murder them? It's a damn good thing I never liked or trusted you to start off with, otherwise I'd be dead!"

"You're so stupid you should have-"

"I. Said. STOP." Red barked. Green shut up, giving him a flat look. "Now listen to me, I'm gonna take you back to my house, drag you if I want to, and lock you up in that room. I'll bolt the door and lock the windows-"

"You may wanna try that the other way around first." Green said.

Red glared. Then suddenly Green was in the air, held up by Red's fist, curled tightly into his shirt. Green wasn't even fazed.

"Blue can lock them from the outside so you can't pick them." He hissed. "She's good at that- though I suppose you'd know a thing or two, since you're the Phantom Thief."

"Mm."

"That's as good as a confession I care to get." Red smirked, and then threw Green down onto the sand.

It didn't hurt much, since it was sand, but it still kind of hurt and Green let out a squeak of surprise that made Red's bastard-y smirk widen. Green almost hissed back at him, literally hissed, but stopped himself when Sylveon did the job for him.

"You know what, fuck you!" Red snapped. "Blue told me to try and be nicer, even if there was the possibility of you being the Phantom, but fuck that!"

He grabbed Green again, and Sylveon cried out wordlessly. Even now, their façade had to stay up- Sylveon wouldn't let anyone know that Green could make a translator for pokemon even if they were being attacked.

Red threw Green down again and then kicked him in the stomach. Green coughed and rolled onto his side, and then yelped as Red ducked and punched him. He looked up, glaring, and spat blood from his mouth- his lip had probably been split, and it felt like he'd bitten his tongue.

"Come on then." Red demanded. "Fight me, unless you're too Torchic."

"Oh, please."

Green surprised him by shooting up and giving him an uppercut to the face, making Red stagger back a little bit.

"Huh, so you don't just cut throats open." Red muttered.

He rushed Green and feinted left, but Green blocked both the feint and the real blow. He wondered where Red had learned how to fight- he was kind of shit.

But Green wasn't going to kill him. Not like this, not unless Red actually did something that would make Green want him dead. He wouldn't use his knife in a combat fight like this. As Gardevoir had said days ago, he, they, had morals.

Green was small, even when he had been his actual age. Many had mistaken him for a nine or ten year old, not eleven like he was. After ten years, that size remained- and he knew full well how to use it to his advantage. Red was big, tall, muscled- stronger than Green by miles. But he was also clumsy and didn't know how to fight hand-to-hand combat other than random punches, kicks, etc.

Green dived under Red's legs and pulled as he skidded in the sand. Red came crashing down like a ton of weights, landing with an undignified _oof_. Green smirked before climbing onto the man's back and gripping his head in both his small hands.

"Give up yet?" Green asked smugly.

"Get off!"

"Hm, if you were really as good as you claimed to be in pokemon battling, you'd be as good at combat with people. Maybe I was wrong- you're even worse than I gave you credit for." Green mused.

He was surprised when Red suddenly rose up quickly and threw him off his back. Green was the one who landed with an _oof_ this time, but Red followed with pinning him down by the wrists, catching both in one hand, and keeping the other hand on Green's chest to stop him from struggling.

Then Red sort of kneeled on Green's legs, which was awkward since he was almost twice Green's size, and then Green only had his head free.

"You were saying?" He panted a little from the effort, but Green had nothing to say to him.

Red smirked, and Green noticed Sylveon slinking up behind. Green gave him the tiniest shake of heads, he knew the Fairy type would see it even if Red didn't, or he would assume Green was shaking his head to try and free himself or something.

"Now, since you're being so cooperative, I'm gonna tie you up and have Aero carry you by the claws." Red snapped. "Oh, and I think I'll take your pokeballs as well."

Red did all of this while he spoke, throwing Green's pokeballs a little way away to Aero, who murmured sadly. Red grabbed an empty pokeball and glanced at Green, then at Sylveon who had come around to where Red could actually see him.

"Tell your pokemon to go back into its ball." Red ordered.

Green almost told him to go shove it, and that Sylveon was a boy, but he kept quiet and just nodded. Sylveon, looking a bit resigned, touched the ball that belonged to him and disappeared into it. Red then rolled it over to Aero for protection.

"Now then, I brought some ropes with me in case, so keep still, brat."

"Like I have much of a choice at the moment."

Red glared and then raised the hand on Green's chest. Green winced a little, thinking Red was going to slap him or something, but he was only reaching for Aero, who took something from his back and handed it to Red, who smirked at Green's response.

He then forced Green to sit up, where he could get off Green and sort of get behind him to tie his hands behind his back, and then tie his arms to make sure he didn't do a gymnast thing and switch the side of which the tied hands were on. Green wasn't sure what people called that, but he was sure that Red was genre savvy enough to know that people like Green would be able to do damage with his hands tied up and in front of him.

So he had intelligence. And he just had to get that at the worst possible moment.

Red made Green stand up, and then suddenly lifted his shirt. Green squeaked in both shock and embarrassment, and when Red took his concealed knife, he cursed everything that made Red, well, Red.

"You need to eat more." Red told him casually.

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm basically homeless." Green snapped.

" . . . You are?"

"Why no, I only steal and kill for the fun of it!"

"Hah hah." Red deadpanned. He shoved Green towards Aero and then paused. " . . . Is that a person?"

Green muttered obscene words at him and leaned a little to the side to have a look himself. From the cave, a person came out, stumbling and sort of favouring one leg. The person looked to be bleeding, which after years of being the cause of such things Green could probably tell a mile off (not that he wanted to try anyway).

"How long have you kept him here?" Red snapped, turning to Green with a massive glare that would have been intimidating had Green actually done anything to the man. "Four days? Five? Less? Did you attack him when you ran away and decided to keep him for fun?"

"Uh, why would I do that? I attack to kill, if I want to." Green said.

Bad choice of words.

"So you did hurt him. Hey, come on! It's ok, he won't hurt you anymore, I've tied him up!" Red shouted to the person.

The person, who by now had stumbled closer and was looking eerily familiar, seemed relieved at the words. The person only confused Green even more- if he had never met the guy before, how could they have been relieved he was tied up? It didn't make sense to him.

"Tha-thank you." The person, who was definitely male and a bit smaller than Red but most likely the same age, sighed as soon as he was near enough. "I- . . . wait a second . . . R-Red? Is that you?"

Red shot a smug look at Green, who rolled his eyes, and then Red nodded.

"Don't worry, as Champion I'll give you protection-"

"Champion? No, no, I think you're misunderstanding me. I-I know you." The man said.

Green sighed softly. Looked like he would be in these stupid ropes for a while.

"As in . . . personally?" Red frowned.

"Well, not exactly, but . . . look, you got mad at me when I didn't catch Mew, remember?"

Green looked up sharply at that. Red must have taken his sudden attentiveness as interest in Mew herself, because he shook Green and gestured for the man to continue.

"A-and that time in Viridian forest- I would have killed that baby Kangaskhan had you not stopped me!" The man cried. "Then in Pewter city, we both entered that- that tournament thing, remember?"

"You . . . what?" Red blinked, finally letting go of Green in his shock. "But . . . aren't you, you know . . . dead?"

"W-what?"

Green had no idea what was going on. For one thing, this guy looked like him only older. Second, he was claiming to have done the stuff that Green had done- but if Red was reacting to all that . . .

Oh.

Red was the red eyed kid he'd met ten years ago, he was the kid he'd been jealous of. How the hell did he not make the connection sooner?

But that wasn't exactly the worst thing right now.

"Red, it's me, Green Oak!"

 _. . . What?_

 **oooo**

Red had locked Green in the guest room the second they got back, and after calling the other dexholders over, he got Blue to lock the window from the outside. Green watched her, arms and hands thankfully untied now. She looked to almost regret it, but then she seemed to steel herself and Green knew she was telling herself that he deserved it.

But that wasn't exactly the problem. It wasn't that he was in a room, locked up. It was the fact that he was all alone with nothing but the two Ghosts outside- Gastlys of all things!- to keep him company. Frankly he was impressed he hadn't broken the doors down in his terror.

It didn't stop him trying.

"Please, just let me out!" Green shouted at the door, trying his best not to break his hands. "I'll do whatever you want, just please let me out!"

One of the Gastlys glanced at him and smiled, and Green scrambled into the corner and whimpered. Luckily it didn't seem either of the things had been given permission to enter the room, so they couldn't feed off his fear or Curse him again or something.

He closed his eyes, trying to block out the image, and the memories of Koga practically torturing him, and put his hands over his head.

" **Child."**

He squeaked and curled in on himself. He wasn't surprised- something that could Curse him for eternity was able to speak.

" **Open your eyes, please, you are safe here."**

 _Yeah, right._

" **Green Oak, you are not in the custody of the pokedex holders, not for now."**

Like he'd believe that Tauros-shit.

" **Do not use such language in my presence, if you please."**

. . . Wait a second. He could feel wind. He was indoors, and he could feel wind. Green opened his eyes and almost fainted in shock.

He was on some sort of plateau, big enough for him and maybe a few massive pokemon to fit on comfortably. The area surrounding him was bright, clouds scattered around, and the stars above him in the night sky, as if night and day were in perfect synch here. Surrounding him were loads of other plateaus, with pokemon seated upon them.

Green was facing the largest and most regal of the lot- where a pokemon spoken of only in legends sat, poised as if he wasn't even the creator of the universe. As if he knew he was _the_ god, but didn't want to act like it.

Arceus.

" **Child."** The god greeted, nodding his head. The other Legendry pokemon did the same. Green noticed a Xerneas and almost called out to it, but remembered what Xerneas had said over and over again- there was more than one.

"What . . ." Green swallowed and found his voice. "What am I doing here? H-how did I . . . Am I dead?"

"Technically speaking, you were meant to die years ago _."_ Someone else said. Green turned and saw a Darkrai, looking as though he wanted to be somewhere else.

"I-I know, but am I dead right now?" Green asked again.

" **Your spirit is out of your body, but you are not dead."** A soft voice murmured. Green looked at a plateau under Arceus's and took an involuntary step back.

Giratina.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. **"I do have that effect on humans, and it still seems I cannot control it."**

" **No, he is just afraid of the Ghost creatures."** Dialga said, in a metallic and deep voice that Green hadn't expected. **"I have seen his past and this is . . . troublesome for him."**

"Um, not that I don't mind being talked about like I'm not even here, but what am I even doing here? And . . . and where is here anyway?" Green broke in.

" **Child, do you not recognise this place?"** Arceus seemed to smile, but Green didn't see a mouth anywhere. **"The Xerneas that travels with you has been here three times in the last century, and it is not a place you forget easily. He must have spoken of it."**

Then suddenly it all came to him.

"The . . . the Hall of Origin?" Green guessed.

"Oh, he gets it, can we go now?" Darkrai snapped.

" **Be silent."** Palkia snapped back. He huffed out a bit of water that gave Green a small shower. **"You smell, human child. Take a . . . whatever it is that humans use to clean themselves with."**

"In case you haven't noticed I can't." Green muttered.

" **Disrespect!"**

" **Oh shut up, you deserved it."** Someone muttered. Kyogre. Who was female. This was getting weird.

" **May I continue?"** Arceus asked patiently. The Hall fell silent. **"Thank you. Green Oak, Cursed child, the eternal boy, you have many names among us. I assume you prefer your real name as opposed to a name we have given you, or the fake one you gave the pokedex holders."**

"You know who they are?"

And then he remembered that Gold, Silver and Crystal had saved Arceus before and he slapped himself.

"Sorry, stupid question. Carry on." He said.

Arceus merely smiled at him. **"Green, you are a special child. I know you think that the reason is because of the Curse, but do not think that is all that defines you."**

"Um . . . I'm not being disrespectful or anything, but is that all you took me here to say?" Green blinked.

" **No."** Groudon, male of course, since Kyogre was female, muttered. **"We have a warning for the pokedex holders."**

" . . . And you want me to tell them." Green flatly guessed.

Most of the Hall nodded, while others looked either bored or slightly embarrassed.

"They locked me in a room with my worst fear skulking around outside, why the hell would I talk to them? Besides, they wouldn't listen to me anyway." Green said, so fast that he could hardly understand himself.

" **They would if you had this."** Arceus said.

A glowing ball of . . . something floated down in front of Green. It stopped just in front of him, close enough for him to take hold of it or reject it. Green glanced up at Arceus, who nodded slowly. Green looked back at the ball, and then reached out.

The second the glowing ball was in his hands, it disappeared and turned into-

"M-my pokedex!" He cried, pulling it towards himself in shock. "H-how . . ."

" **The man would have destroyed it had we not sent a Cubone in to retrieve it."**

"You mean Koga?"

" **Yes."** Arceus nodded. **"That pokedex has been kept in our custody, and we have waited for the moment that it could be returned to you. But . . . we have made some modifications."**

Green had no idea they could even do that.

" **Courtesy of Mewtwo and Genesect, of course."**

. . . Well, ok then?

" **As they have told me, they have modified the pokedex to be able to communicate with this Hall at all times."** Arceus explained. **"They have also corrected the information about the Legendry creatures that have been recorded on it. Many of us do not enjoy being . . . misread."**

"Yeah, Xerneas told me about that." Green nodded, turning the pokedex on and looking through the pages.

Originally it could only hold 151 different pages, but Mewtwo and Genesect had taken out all of the Legendry pokemon pages, put them in a separate one, added in pretty much every single one of the Legendry pokemon, and then put in the information as well. Normal pokemon were where the pages for those normally were, and the two pokemon had obviously added in every other pokemon from the other regions as well.

There was also a small, extra button next to the up and down ones. It looked like an old gate of some kind.

"Is this the thing that lets me communicate with here?" Green asked, pointing to it. He received a nod and then decided to try it out.

When he pressed the button, a holographic version of himself appeared in front of him. Green gaped at it, it was sort of translucent and moved when he did, the same way.

"W-wow . . ." He whispered. "Mewtwo and Genesect are . . . well, they're amazing."

" **THANK YOU."**

Green squeaked and spun around, the hologram thing doing the same, and saw Mewtwo and Genesect on a plateau together. It was Genesect who had spoken.

" **Much appreciated, Green."** Mewtwo nodded his head slightly.

"Y-y-you're welcome?"

He heard Arceus laugh softly and turned again, the hologram doing the same.

" **Look at the screen. What does it show you at this moment?"** Arceus asked him.

Green looked down and saw Arceus, full-bodied, sitting on the plateau as he was right now. He glanced up and saw Arceus nod, and then noticed the one on the screen nodded as well.

" **It shows you the Legendry who is speaking at the moment."** Arceus told him. **"Of course, you can control where to look also, but it is mostly . . . hm . . . auto-pilot, I think is the word."**

"Uh . . . I-I think so. Is the sound the same?"

" **No, you hear everything."** Mewtwo spoke up again. **"Of course, if you have it on auto, the thing would probably get confused if we end up trying to talk over each other. As we always do. Lucky we haven't tried it yet. Also, I added some other features. I'll let you figure those out yourself."**

"Right." Green murmured. He pressed the button of the gate and the hologram disappeared.

" **Now, onto more pressing matters. We would ask that you be our Messenger, at least for the pokedex holders."** Arceus said. **"There will be no 'catches' as you humans say."**

" . . . Um . . . this is kinda sudden." Green began. He was interrupted.

" **Ha!"**

He spun and saw Ho-oh and Lugia. Lugia was the one who had laughed, and was now holding a wing out to Ho-oh smugly.

" **I said he wouldn't accept right away."** He said.

" **You couldn't have just said yes."** Ho-oh sighed. He handed over some pokepuffs to Lugia.

"Pokepuffs? Why do you have pokepuffs?" Green asked.

" **. . . What else are we meant to bet with? Speaking of, Arceus, you owe me as well!"** Lugia called.

Green turned back to Arceus with a flat look.

"You bet on what I'd say." He said.

" **. . . Well . . . yes."** Arceus sighed. **"Sorry."**

"Uh-huh. Is this the Hall of Origin or a betting ring?" Green asked.

A few of them shuffled.

"Oh, don't tell me you all betted!"

Everyone nodded. Green rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Great, I'm a plaything for the gods now." He muttered. "What other Tauros-shit's gonna happen?"

" **Well, it was Mew who started it!"** Ho-oh snapped.

" **I did not!"**

" **You so did!"**

" **Did not!"**

" **Did too!"**

" **Do not make me come over there you two."** Arceus threatened. He regained his composure. **"Getting back onto our previous topic . . . the message."**

"Please." Green muttered. Then he blanched as he realised he'd just given them permission to use him as their messenger. Dammit.

" **There is a danger coming."** Arceus began.

"Since when is there not?" An Yveltal called.

" **Silence! A danger that the pokedex holders must be untied to defeat. As of yet, they are torn apart, and are being deceived."**

"You mean the look-alike thing?" Green blinked.

" **That is a clone."** Reshiram spoke up. She ruffled her . . . fur? Feathers? Whatever. **"And it disgusts me that humans would create clones of children. Even if that** _ **thing**_ **is aged."**

" **Reshiram, control yourself."** Arceus told her. **"That clone is part of the danger, was** _ **made**_ **by the danger- it has infiltrated and will destroy the pokedex holders from the inside out. It has already torn you away."**

"I never really knew any of them properly anyway. Technically speaking I only knew Red, and I hadn't met him enough times to remember his name." Green said.

" **That does not matter in such a situation. The pokedex holders must be united, it is the only way they can defeat this danger."**

"And the danger is?"

" **We do not know."**

" . . . You're so useful."

" **Oh shut up!"** Uxie suddenly barked. She spun around angrily, puffing her cheeks up. Her sisters tried to calm her down. **"Do not blame me for not being able to see an entire future! I only saw destruction! And those who would prevent it!"**

"Who caused it?" Green asked her.

" **I have no idea, so do not ask me."** Uxie huffed. **"Can we get rid of him now?"**

" **Yes . . ."** Arceus sighed.

"I see why you made bets." Green said. "Playing babysitter's tough on you, huh?"

" **You have no idea."** Arceus deadpanned. **"You will wake up back in that room, and Giratina has instructed the Gastly to leave you alone- your pokemon have also been freed by the same Gastly. They will be with you."**

"And the dexholders?"

" **Currently they are in that thing you humans call a 'living room'. All of them including the clone. Why do you call it a 'living room' if it is not alive?"**

Green tried to answer and then thought about it. "You know what, I have no idea."

"It is one of life's greatest mysteries." Zapdos spoke up.

Arceus nodded, and Green blinked. He found himself sprawled on the ground, back in Red's guest room, with his entire team surrounding him. They all gave a happy cry when he sat up.

There was a weight in his hand. Green glanced at it. His old pokedex was still there, and when he opened it, the gate button was still on it. So that wasn't just some insane dream.

"Are you ok?" Zoroark asked, leaning down. "We found you passed out like this, and then suddenly there was this glow, and that thingy appeared."

"Didn't the Gastley tell you?"

"Tell us what?" Gardevoir snapped. "That you'd be dead by the time we got here?"

" . . . I was dead?"

Sylveon nodded. "Zoroark checked your pulse, Goodra tried to goo you, and then Xerneas said that you were somewhere else and to leave you alone."

"Oh, that. I was in the Hall of Origin." He said flippantly.

Five out of six pokemon gaped at him. The other one smiled.

"I see you have finally met them. They had chosen you since almost the moment I joined you, did you know?" He asked.

"No, but I do know they're a bunch of weirdoes." Green told him. "For a group of Legendries . . . they don't act their ages."

"Do not blame them, centuries of having only each other for company can take its' toll." Xerneas laughed.

"Wait, hold the fucking phone, you were in the _Hall of Origin_?" Zoroark burst out. "Seriously? A-and you weren't dying for real?"

"When you go to the Hall of Origin, you get pulled from your body. Most of the time." Xerneas explained. "There are few cases in which humans have physically been to the Hall, but Green was there only in spirit."

"Speaking of spirit, I can now apparently contact them anytime I want." Green said. "Check it."

He threw the pokedex to Zoroark, who caught it and opened it. He blinked.

"The gate thing, right?" Green nodded. "Sweet, kid."

"What the hell!?" Someone who was definitely not one of them cried.

"Well damn." Green sighed. He stood up and his team parted, to reveal Red, Blue and Yellow standing at the door.

"How did this happen?" Blue asked, looking around. "I'm pretty sure the room was locked. From the outside."

"Does it matter?" Green asked. "Look, I have a m-"

"What are they doing out!?" Red shouted. "No, wait, how did they get out in the first place?"

Zoroark rolled his eyes and gave Green the pokedex. Green then held it up to a shocked Kanto trio.

"That looks like your old pokedex, Red." Yellow gasped.

"You stole my pokedex!" Red snarled. "Give it back, you thief!"

"It's mine, genius." Green told him.

"Like hell I'll believe that." Red glared. "Give it here, I'll check."

"You have no idea how to work it, let me." Blue said. She held out a hand.

Green glanced at his team, and noticed that Xerneas had taken the form of a Meganium. He would have wondered when that had happened but he had more pressing matters.

He handed over the pokedex.

Blue almost opened the pokedex before she suddenly fell to the floor, her hand still on the pokedex, struggling to lift it from the floor.

"What- the- hell-!" She gasped out.

"Did you put some kind of spell on it?" Red demanded.

Green stared at the pokedex in shock. Yellow put a hand on Red's shoulder and took a step forward.

"Was that you?" She asked, nodding to the pokedex, which Blue was still trying to lift. Red had started to try and help her now.

"Um, no?"

"Why do you sound unsure?"

"I . . ." She wouldn't believe him if he told her what he thought. "I don't know, but it wasn't me."

He reached down to pick up the pokedex, and Red pushed him back.

"Don't you dare touch her, or that pokedex, thief." He snapped.

"Oh for Mew's sake . . . Zoroark, hold him, please."

Zoroark snorted and gave him a look that said 'what am I, the muscle?' and then grabbed Red anyway, who yelped.

Green reached down and took hold of the pokedex, fully prepared to not be able to lift it like Red and Blue, and then staggered back as the force of his pull pushed him backwards- with the pokedex in his hand. He stared at it in shock, and then at Blue, who was getting up and rubbing her hand.

"What the . . ." She began. Blue shook her head. "You can lift it, _you_ , the tiny little nine year old-"

"I'm eleven!" Green snapped. _Physically, anyway._

"Fine, eleven. But you can lift it, and I can't? I'm stronger than you are!"

"Um, forgive me if this idea sounds a bit silly, but . . ."

Everyone turned to Yellow, who glanced around and then swallowed.

"But . . . maybe it's something to do with being worthy or something?"

Silence. And then . . .

"You're shitting me!" Green burst out loudly. Half the room jumped. "You mean this thing is basically Thor's hammer? Those idiots gave me Mjolnir in pokedex form!"

"What idiots?" Blue asked.

" . . . Oh, yeah, forgot about that."

 **OOOOOO**

Renny: This one nearly has six thousand words, and also, craziness from the Legendries! Talk about mood whiplash . . . also, hope you liked the fight at the . . . kind of start?

Green: So wait, I can fight and all that, but I'm still weak as hell?

Renny: Dude, you're basically a skeleton, of course you're weak. You just use your size and speed against your opponents a lot more than is legally needed.

Red: Did he kick my ass or did I kick his?

Renny: Well, technically you won, but you did kind of sit on him so . . . call it a draw.

Green: What are we drawing?

Renny: *rolls eyes* Read and review!


	5. Chapter 5

Renny: So I'm glad no one went mad for the sudden thing with the Hall of Origin, but since Green has a god of life with him it was kind of expected at some point. Also, he'll be kinda all over the place at this moment in time. Disclaimer!

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

 **OOOOOO**

They'd locked him up again. Bastards.

They made him return his pokemon and that prat Red took them all, and then suddenly he was being shoved into the dark place known as a basement. Thankfully they had enough sense not to stick in the Gastlys as well, otherwise Green'd probably contact the Hall and ask them to do something about it.

And since they couldn't take the pokedex from him without breaking their arms or the floor, he still had it. Pity it didn't do anything special like get him out of the basement/jail, but he couldn't really ask Arceus to teleport him out- wait, he'd just been prepared to ask them to get rid of the Gastly had they been there but not to get out of the basement.

That made no sense even to him.

Oh well.

After he'd told them he had a message from the Hall of Origin, and from Arceus himself, Red had basically laughed and then started ranting about how Green was a terrible liar- and Green said that it was only terrible because it was the truth. He also insulted Red again.

Yeah, maybe he should keep his damn mouth shut next time. If there even would be a next time. Blue had called Looker a few minutes ago, and from what Green could understand, he was coming in a few short hours.

That meant he had little time to convince these idiots that he was the Messenger for the Hall of Origin, and to tell them said message that needed delivering.

Though why none of the Legendry pokemon couldn't do it themselves was beyond him. They obviously loved to make things complicated.

And from conversations of the guards put outside the basement door- two pokedex holders, each from different regions he guessed by the sounds of their voices- he figured out what the clone had said to the dexholders.

Green remembered how he died the first time. He remembered each and every death he had, but that one was the most vivid- because it was when he had discovered he couldn't die.

Koga had ripped his arm off and then had taken great pleasure in _drilling_ the wound so much that Green almost bled to death- and Koga had then killed him by shooting him in the head- he remembered seeing white and black, like how people said they saw 'the light', but then he'd woke up hours later with his arm still there. At first he'd thought Koga had hypnotised him to see it all, to feel it all, but when even Koga was shocked . . .

Well. You know what happened next.

He'd seen photos of what he looked like when he'd been dead. He'd seen the blood all over his body when he'd woken up, after seeing Koga's shock of course. But the clone had said that the death was a fake- that Koga had only ripped his arm off and then waited until he was unconscious from blood loss to paint some bullet holes onto his head and put fake blood on his body.

Since no one had seen Green's body, everyone had assumed the blood, the death, was real. According to the clone, it was completely fake, and his own arm- the left one- was also a fake. The clone had been thrown out of the Tower, then had ran away somewhere. He'd been picked up by some mad scientists who had wanted to test bionic arms that looked real but weren't, which was the explanation for his strangely metallic arm but completely biological body.

Then, a few months ago, the clone had been allowed to go and live his own life. However, he'd met trouble- and this was where the lie grew really stupid.

Three days ago he'd been on his way to Pallet town, and then had suddenly been attacked by a boy and a Sylveon. After falling unconscious, the boy had apparently dragged the clone into the secluded cave, where he'd woken up and found himself bound and guarded by a Meganium. Then one day the Meganium had left, and the clone had escaped- only to find Red and the same boy on the beach.

And the stupid thing was that Green didn't have an alibi besides his own pokemon, who could definitely say he was wandering around the market, seeing what he could steal- um, buy, but of course they couldn't speak in front of anyone else and no one would listen anyway.

And then there was the fact that Green had apparently never let his Meganium out of its ball, and also the fact that he had Gardevoir and Zoroark, both masters of illusion and trickery.

So naturally the clone was believed and Green was locked up, waiting to be put in prison and then executed- though, obviously, they couldn't kill him and he'd never age.

He wondered how Looker would get past that- he obviously suspected something, and only had the truth by half. Since, you know, he was basically favoured by the gods and not Cursed by them instead.

So to pass time until Looker came, or someone actually decided to listen to the message (because no one had bothered to even stop and listen, not even when he called sarcastically to the 'guards'), he looked through the new information he had about the Legendries.

Green had memorised pretty much every detail from his old pokedex and some bits from his grandfather's old books- and he could tell that the Legendries were clearly offended by the way that almost every single titbit of information in the pokedex had been cleared and rewritten. For that though, Green was thankful. He didn't like not knowing things, and he also didn't like knowing the wrong things.

He also hated the fact that someone else had now taken his place with his grandfather, even though he was still afraid of people finding out who he used to be.

Green wasn't even sure if Oak had recognised him. The old man had apparently asked to see his 'grandson's' would-be killer, and had sat on a box while Green sort of slumped in the corner, ignoring him. By the time he had stood up and left, Green had read the page about Mew fifteen times.

He knew why he hadn't said anything- tried to talk to Oak, tried to tell him the message since it technically included the inventor of the pokedexs.

He was afraid.

Of Oak.

Of his grandfather.

The man who had raised him since his parents were too dead to do so.

He was afraid of being recognised by his grandfather, causing the confusion that would lead to everyone assuming Green was the clone, and then Looker would only come all that sooner. And Green would never see his team ever again.

They were the only things that kept him sane, if he was honest with himself.

Not that any of these people would care-

. . .

But why would they? He was a murderer, a thief . . . Green wasn't suddenly feeling sorry for himself, for all that he'd done, but still. He had expected someone to listen to him when they'd seen the pokedex, but why had he?

Who would listen to someone like him, someone who couldn't even justify his actions?

Truth was . . . he _enjoyed_ killing. That was the simple fact. At first he had needed to, but only rarely. The first time he killed someone it was in self-defence. The man had tried to bad touch him after all. The second time was because the woman was fighting back, and it had been an accident.

A few other times were indirectly, mainly by causing a landslide trying to escape in his earlier years in Kalos, and tons of other ways. And then he killed someone because he wanted to, because he hated that person, because they were so smug about having such a nice house, so much money . . .

And that was when he started to kill for fun. Someone pissed him off, he took them down. Someone refused to give money or food, or he couldn't steal it from them, he killed them for it. Someone fought back, he killed them. But never a pokemon, no.

Only people.

Because his faith in humanity had been shattered long ago. They didn't seem exactly . . . real to him, anymore, despite how they acted. Pokemon, on the other hand . . . well.

And he was afraid of his grandfather actually believing him, knowing that Green was his real grandson, knowing he had a killer as a relative. Green was afraid of being disowned, but so long as that thing was still around, he wasn't.

Even if it meant pretending to not know Oak at all.

So, he could see why they refused to listen. They couldn't take away the pokedex of course, but they, and Green, didn't think that it had any weapons. So they let him keep it. Gave him something to do while he waited to be taken away to rot in prison forever. And not just figuratively.

Looker came earlier than he expected. Maybe someone had lied to make him unprepared, but even so, it would have been nice to know. He'd been sort of surfing through the bits about Hoennan pokemon when the door opened. He'd thought it was Red coming in to yell or something, like he'd done a couple of times before, but when he looked up . . .

"Surprised to see me?" Looker smirked. He continued as Green gaped at him. "I suppose you are. Shocked at being caught as well, I assume. I'm willing to bet you thought you were invincible, that you couldn't be touched."

Well, he'd died a lot, so he hadn't thought that exactly. Green said nothing, but he controlled his expression and gave Looker a blank stare.

"Don't try that with me, Castiel. You're coming with me whether you like it or not, understand?"

" . . . Sure, sir."

Looker had the decency to throw Green against the wall and punch him in the face. And still the Cursed boy kept his blank façade up.

"I told you not to call me 'sir'!" Looker barked. "Do not make me kill you here."

Green had enough sense to keep his mouth shut. He wasn't that dumb.

"You're going to let me put these handcuffs on you-" Looker held up some slightly painful-looking metal handcuffs. "-and then you're going to be cooperative and walk out here without trying anything."

Once he had the cuffs on, Green couldn't resist.

" _Dirty ba~abe. You see these shackles, baby I'm your sla~ave. I'll let you whip me if I misbehave."_ He sang softly.

Looker smacked him on the head and then pushed him out the basement. As they walked outside, Green saw the whole lot of the dexholders watching him nearby, standing together. The clone and Oak were near them.

Oak looked like he was sad. Green wasn't sure why, but he guessed it was because the old man had tried to do something with him before- he wasn't sure what.

But why was he sad? As far as he was concerned, the person who would have been his grandson's murderer was going to prison for a very long time.

Red and the rest of the dexholders looked like they wanted to do something they probably wouldn't regret, if the way they were glaring at him like that was anything to go by.

He was shoved onto the helicopter-thing that was a hell of a lot larger than one but still looked like one- he wasn't sure what it was called, but obviously it was used to transport dangerous prisoners. And now that they'd finally gotten him, he was considered the worst, probably. Not exactly his fault since he couldn't die.

The second he stepped onto the helicopter-thing, he felt a tug. Not a physical one, more like the one when you were leaving something behind. The thing he was leaving behind- his team, his friends, his . . . his family.

They had been together for so long it felt like they were his only family. Even if they were dysfunctional, even if Sylveon hadn't been with them for very long, even if Xerneas was a Legendry, even if . . . even if they weren't even related or the same species, they were family.

Looker sat him in some kind of cell. It was bare- not even a window. Just a light. The cuffs, they were painful, if only a bit, were kept on. Most likely to stop him from doing anything. Not that he could.

Blue had taken all of his weapons, the concealed ones as well, the backups, everything. His pokemon had been taken, and he'd never see them ever again, for as long as they lived.

And suddenly he broke.

He curled up in the corner, and cried. Each face that he'd killed, each person, each life, came back to him for the next few hours. He wasn't sure if anyone had come in or not, he'd been too focussed on trying to get rid of it all. He didn't want to see the people he'd killed, those he couldn't justify killing, those he enjoyed killing. The ones who were killed because of accidents, those who were killed in self-defence . . . they appeared as well.

The ones who died without a name.

But why now? Why did they appear now, and not when he'd actually killed them? Why feel guilt now? Was it because he no longer had the barrier of his pokemon to protect him from it?

He felt the guilt, felt the entire thing again and again, but never once did he feel regret.

His te- . . . his _family_ appeared as well. They weren't dead, but he could imagine a hundred different ways for them to die- he'd died over three hundred times, after all.

Zoroark, in one of the imaginations, had been torn apart. Sylveon could be taken down by Steel and Poison- he'd been shredded by steel blades and poisoned when that hadn't been enough. Goodra was frozen to death and then thawed until her gooey parts weren't gooey anymore. Gardevoir was burnt alive. Xerneas was drowned.

And Noivern . . . oh, poor, poor Noivern. His throat ripped out like before, his vocal chords completely gone, his wings shredded apart, his tail broken and mangled to such a state it took a trained eye to see what it was, his head . . . his head . . . h-his head . . .

Caved in. The skull. His eyes wide and staring, accusing, terrified.

When he'd finally stopped crying, because he had no tears left, Looker came in.

"I suppose you're sorry, now that we've taken away those which make you so arrogant." He said.

Green kept staring at the wall like it was the only thing keeping him from seeing the people he'd killed. It probably was.

"That won't be good enough, especially for the people who want you to see justice for the hundreds you've murdered."

" . . . I know." Green said hoarsely. "But . . . y-you can't kill me."

"Yes, we know." Looker nodded. "But even so, we can try."

He pulled out a gun, and pressed it to Green's temple. Then he shot.

 **oooo**

Yellow had seen madmen try to destroy all life, human life at least, for pokemon. She'd seen another madman go through so much pain and torture, insanity too, just to find his son. She'd seen a madman try to sink the entire world with a monster.

But this was something that shocked her.

"Guys?" She called.

Everyone- the dexholders, Green, and Professor Oak- turned to her. The living room was crowded, but for once Red wasn't complaining. Yellow remembered a time when he was nice, when he was kind, but he'd grown arrogant and cruel over the years.

"Remember that Meganium that Cas had on his team, but never let out?"

Most of the group nodded to some extent.

Yellow turned to the door which she'd come through, and gestured. The Legendry pokemon had the desired effect- everyone either gasped or gaped in shock.

"This is Xerneas, a god of life." Yellow said. "He's a Legendry pokemon. He's . . . also part of Cas's team."

No one spoke.

"Emerald, what qualities does a person have to have before a Legendry pokemon even considers travelling with a human?" Yellow asked.

"Um . . . a good heart, pure soul, and . . . sometimes a connection to what that Legendry oversees." Emerald swallowed.

"Blue, what about actually being a part of that person's team?" Yellow directed her attention to the woman who had caught no fewer than three Legendries.

"All of that, and . . . they have to trust each other, unconditionally." Blue said faintly.

"Wait, are you trying to say that Cas, the Phantom Thief, the _murderer_ , has all of that?" Crystal demanded.

"Yes." Yellow said bluntly.

"But that's impossible!" Red burst out. "He's a murderer- why would a Legendry travel with him? This has to be some kind of trick."

"Do not call me a liar, you cruel human."

Everyone turned to Xerneas in shock.

"Yes, I can speak." Xerneas told them coldly. "All Legendry pokemon can speak, however we chose to only speak to those we deem worthy. I only speak to you now because it is needed."

"So . . . the kid's worthy?" Sapphire asked.

"That is correct, Wild Girl." Xerneas nodded. "He is my Trainer, I am his pokemon."

"What's the point of this Yellow?" Oak asked carefully. "I don't think this is simply to tell us that this Cas isn't all that he seems."

"It is." Yellow said. She glanced at Xerneas, who nodded. "I . . . I looked into all of his teams' minds. And . . . there's something you should all know."

 **oooo**

His first death: arm torn out, wound drilled into, four bullets to the head.

His second death: legs chainsawed off, bled to death.

Third death: his intestines pulled out and then he'd been choked with them.

Tenth death: another bullet, being chased by a madman.

Fiftieth death: rampaging Gyarados.

Sixty-ninth death: chopped in half.

Ninetieth death: tumbled off a cliff, got speared by really sharp rocks.

One-hundred and tenth death: eaten alive by rabid Trapinch.

One-hundred and fiftieth death: shredded in a factory, literally shredded.

Two-hundred and twentieth death: blown up by an old mine field that was meant to be dead.

Two-hundred and seventieth death: electrocuted in water.

Two-hundred and ninetieth death: drowned.

Three-hundredth death: Sharpedo attack.

And now his latest one: torn apart by a Mightyena.

There was still a hell of a lot of blood from the last few deaths, but this latest one had pretty much painted the entire room with his blood. Thankfully when he came back, he always had the amount of blood needed in a human to live, so he was left wondering how many bags the blood all around him could fill.

They'd cut out his tongue at some point, and he lifted it against the roof of his mouth to check it was still there after coming back. Like he'd said before, sometimes other injuries got healed when he died, sometimes they didn't. If not they almost always got healed the next time, but sometimes they turned into scars.

After the Mightyena, the cuffs had come off. No one bothered to put them back on since he wasn't fighting back anyway. It wasn't like he was gonna die permanently.

Green was thinking they enjoyed trying new ways to kill him. At first it had just been Looker, but then he'd gotten some men in to kill him over and over again- only giving him time to resurrect before killing him again.

The most creative had been being cooked from the inside out by a Psychic type he'd forgotten the name of. Not a Gardevoir, obviously.

But then suddenly they'd stopped. They had some weird thingy things in their ears, and had put a finger to it- each one of the men. They'd blinked, glanced at Green, and then had left. That had been a few minutes ago. Green was doodling in his blood when the door opened up again.

"Hello." Looker said.

" . . . To what do I owe the pleasure of being killed by you again." Green flatly asked.

"I'm not here to kill you."

That made Green look up. Looker looked like he was fighting something, which was strange. He seemed like the kind of person to be confident in everything he did.

"I'm here to . . . well, ask something of you." Looker told Green.

The Cursed boy watched him take out an Alakazam. Probably not his own, but who cared.

"I need to look into your mind." Looker explained. "There have been some . . . developments that are very interesting."

"Like what?" Green asked carelessly. He really didn't give a damn. This was just a stupid lie so Looker could watch Green die by having his mind blow up or something.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, Green."

Green only had a split second to feel shocked before something gripped his mind and he yelled in pain.

Memories came out. Of him with his grandfather, of him with his old master, of Green getting Scyther to finally listen to him. Everything under the sun, and it all came out in a flash. How he was Cursed. His most recent memories, how he met each member of his team, how he went from a reluctant killer to a willing murderer, how he and his team looked after a baby until it was able to eat solid food- everything.

Even the Hall of Origin.

When it was all done, Green broke out of his pain with a loud gasp. He gripped his head and stared at Looker with wide eyes. He had no idea what his expression was like, but Looker was staring at him with equally wide eyes.

"It's . . . it's true." Looker breathed. "You really are Professor Oak's dead grandson."

Things got kind of weird from there.

He wasn't let out of the cell, but he could feel the helicopter-thing turn around in mid-air. They were apparently on their way back to Pallet town. He wondered why they were going back.

But . . . how would anyone have figured it out? Did that mean the clone had slipped up? Had one of his pokemon finally lost it and started shouting?

No one came in, but he knew there were three or four guards outside the door at all times. Well, at least he wasn't being killed anymore. A small luxury considering how well things had gone so far.

Wait . . . this was exactly what he was afraid of. Being found out. Ok, maybe he should have gone on a different boat. But then again, he'd wanted to make Noivern happy, and Noivern loved big boats. Green wasn't blaming Noivern, no, he would never do that. Not even if his life depended on it.

Hours later, they got back to Pallet town. Green was taken from the cell and down a hallway to where the hatch was, escorted by Looker and about six guards.

The pokedex holders, Oak, and the clone were all outside of Red's house. Green wasn't entirely sure if they'd even moved at all. The only thing different was that the clone looked desperate, and as Green stepped off the helicopter-thing-

He was suddenly assaulted by a massive blur. The blur screeched happily and coiled around him, rubbing its' face against Green's.

"Hey, Noivern." Green smiled, reaching up to pat him gently.

"I told them." Xerneas said as he walked up.

" . . . You did? How?" Green asked.

"That Yellow girl. You remember I once spoke of the Viridian Gift?" Xerneas asked.

"Don't tell me she has it."

"She does indeed. Do not fear, the others have not revealed they speak also." Xerneas told him.

"Well, that's something at least."

"Come on, kid, move it." Looker snapped, shoving him. Green didn't really expect any nice treatment now that they knew, but at least Noivern hissed and made Looker back away with a look of alarm on his face.

Xerneas took Green over to the rest of the team, and then Green was being hugged by everyone, even Gardevoir.

"Xerneas is insane, by the way." Sylveon muttered. "If we hadn't told him not to reveal how we can all speak, he would have done exactly that and put us in a worse position than we're already in."

"Already?"

Someone cleared their throat. Green froze, and then let go of Sylveon to stand up straight. He turned slowly.

"I . . ." Oak paused, and swallowed. "Is . . . is it really you . . .?"

Green said nothing. His team got around him in a defensive but casual position- Xerneas by his side, Zoroark at his other, Goodra and Gardevoir to the side but behind, Sylveon in front of him, and Noivern right behind Green acting as some sort of protector.

Oak took a nervous step back.

"I . . . I'm sorry." He said carefully.

"For what?" Green asked.

Oak jumped. Clearly he hadn't expected Green's voice to stay the same over the years, but it looked like he'd been trying to tell himself that Green hadn't changed. Obviously he'd failed.

"For . . . not trying harder to speak to you, back in the basement." Oak explained.

"I wasn't exactly being friendly myself." Green told him.

Oak nodded slightly and stepped back again. He looked way to awkward. Green felt awkward as well, but he had his entire team surrounding him, acting as a shield.

 **oooo**

Apparently Xerneas revealing who Green really was, with the help of Yellow (who apparently didn't know how to tell a lie to save her life, which kind of saved Green's), kind of made everyone wonder about the clone. Green wasn't sure of the details as of yet, but according to what Xerneas managed to gather before Yellow had hurried him out of the living room, the clone had been interrogated.

"So, what'll happen to the clone?" Goodra asked.

Green had been put into the guest room of Red's house again, but at least he wasn't locked in. They were wary of him, and even more so of the clone itself.

"No idea." Green told her. "Looker didn't say anything, and I doubt anyone would want to tell me anything anyway."

"The clone's in the basement if anyone's interested." Gardevoir suddenly said loudly.

Everyone turned to her.

"What? That thing isn't human or anything, I can do what I want to him. Speaking of which, I'm currently making him think he's seeing monsters in the dark." Gardevoir snickered.

"Fair play." Zoroark smirked. They gave each other a high five.

"What do you think'll happen to us then?" Sylveon asked. He was lying on the bed, claiming it as his own, since Noivern was kind of using Green as a teddy bear in the corner.

"They'll put me in prison for murder, and you lot'll probably be dead by the time I get out." Green said flatly.

"Don't even joke about that, kid." Zoroark told him.

"Who said I was joking? It's not like Looker's gonna suddenly wanna be my best friend in the entire universe because he knows who I am." Green snorted. "And it's not like the pokedex holders are gonna suddenly trust me for the same reasons. They still hate me."

"The Yellow girl does not hate you." Xerneas said. He was lying next to Green, and had raised his head as he spoke. "She sees you as misunderstood. She had apparently dealt with insane humans before."

"I feel offended now."

Finally the ice broke. They laughed and suddenly they were back to how they used to be- Green could at least pretend they were back in Kalos, after escaping from the police yet again.

Noivern continued to cuddle him, occasionally giving his own two pokepennies by making some weird garbled sound that almost sounded like a word. But Green really didn't mind. It was familiar, it was safe, and he could at least say that they were his family without feeling like an idiot for saying it out loud. Mainly because they all agreed that they were family.

Green wasn't sure when things had gotten quiet, but he was suddenly realising that no one but Xerneas was speaking- and not to him.

Red stood at the door with a pained look on his face, and Green just caught the movements of Blue behind him.

" . . . –want me to say?" He was demanding to Blue.

"Perhaps an apology." Xerneas suggested mildly. Red spun around. "Do not speak as though we cannot hear your words, boy."

"I'm a man!" Red barked.

"Compared to some in the heavenly order, you are a boy." Xerneas said coldly. "What is it you want?"

"Red has something to ask, and he's going to ask nicely." Blue said forcefully. She shoved Red into the room, where he stiffened upon seeing the majority of Green's team snarling or scowling at him.

"I . . . we never finished the battle at the beach." Red said, swallowing his pride. "So . . . m-maybe . . . Look, this is hard, alright? All that kid's done to me is insult me and make me look like an idiot!"

"Like you need help with that." Green deadpanned.

"See!?"

"Red, suck up your stupid pride, and _ask him the fucking question_."

Red turned back to Green with a glare. "Look, Cas, Green, whatever the hell your name is, we never got to finish our battle so . . . so I'm challenging you to a new one. Still unofficial of course."

"Setting up a failsafe for when you lose?" Green asked with a smirk.

"Look here, _you_ -"

"I'm in. Same place?"

Red scowled but nodded.

"Perfection." Green said as Red walked out and slammed the door behind him.

"Oh, last time was so much _fun_ , did you know?" Sylveon asked.

"Sylveon," Green said in mock-horror. "Is that sarcasm I hear?"

"Does this mean we can go all-out now?" Zoroark asked. "Because they've seen Xerneas, so obviously they expect us all to be unnaturally strong."

"Yeah, why not? Give 'em a shock or two. Speaking of which, wanna try Radiation on them?" Green asked.

Zoroark gave him a grin that was all teeth. "I was wondering when you'd ask that."

 **OOOOOO**

Renny: So, the battle between Red and Green begins again, but this time- everyone knows who Green is. I kinda had to do this since I literally had no other way for the truth to come out, and since Green's kind of reeling from his discovery that his team stops him from seeing the dead people, he won't be telling anyone about the warning anytime soon.

Red: The thing with the dead people was random, you know. You had him as a ruthless killer, but now you go and make him feel guilty for killing them all.

Renny: Yep, and that guilt was postponed by his team since they stopped him from thinking about it all- they gave him something else to concentrate on. And since he got separated by so many miles, he finally felt that guilt. He doesn't regret doing it, but he feels guilty.

Red: Huh . . .

Renny: Read and review!


	6. Chapter 6

Renny: So I take it the last one was a bit fast, and the fact that Looker went back to Pallet town the second he found it was all true must be confusing, but it'll hopefully be explained in this chapter. No, Green won't be making up with his grandfather after ten years of . . . well, bullshit, but everything that Green's feared so far has happened, so he's basically going to try and avoid Oak for the most part.

Red: Will I still be an asshole, because I'm kinda getting sick of arguing with Green all the time.

Renny: Yeah, you'll still be an ass. You'll change, but you'll still be an ass right now.

Red: Aw . . .

Renny: Disclaimer!

Green: Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

 **OOOOOO**

Green was avoiding Professor Oak.

It wasn't really his fault, but he was a bit scared of what Oak would do if they were alone together- not that Green's team left him alone anyway. Noivern was always with him, and the others alternated between the dexholders' pokemon and him. So really Green should have nothing to fear.

But still. He didn't want to find out what kind of words his grandfather would have for him if they got caught alone or something. Green had already had a few choice words from Ruby, Platinum, Crystal more often, and sometimes Silver.

The others just ignored him.

In fact, the only person who didn't ignore or tell him off for something was Yellow. She occasionally walked into the guest room that Green still didn't know what to do with, and just sat there drawing him and whatever pokemon was with him at the time. Most of her drawings consisted of him and Noivern, occasionally one of the others, but mostly them.

Green was still a bit pissed at having to stay in the house, though. He was grateful that he wasn't going to prison, but he didn't want to stay in more than one place. It would kind of help if he was allowed to wander around town sometimes, but after everything that had happened, he was forbidden from leaving the house.

Which was stupid.

Looker stayed as well, and the helicopter-thing was parked somewhere outside of town, concealed from the public eye. He claimed to be there because he was awaiting a new assignment, but Green knew the truth- he was keeping an eye on Green. Maybe the clone too, but mostly Green.

Because he was a murderer.

Looker hadn't told anyone about Green's little fit on the helicopter-thing, but Green suspected he was only keeping it over the boy's head as blackmail or something.

But anyway. Green had been kept inside for two days straight, and since Red had asked for some time to go over some moves (read: try and figure out how to beat Green without cheating and getting his sorry ass kicked), their rematch was scheduled in five days' time- now down to three.

Green suspected the only thing keeping him from going insane was his pokemon, and maybe the visits from Yellow. Hopefully they would let him go out soon, otherwise he'd sneak out on his own.

Even if it meant having pretty much everyone yell at him.

"I can't take it anymore." Green growled.

Sylveon looked up from giving himself a tongue bath. "Can't take what?"

"This!" Green cried, gesturing to the room. "We may have the run of the damn house, but we're not allowed out! How is that fair."

"I could request that we be allowed outside." Xerneas suggested.

"Now that'd just take the fun out of being sneaky." Zoroark smirked.

He seemed to be able to read Green's mind.

"Can I just Teleport us out?" Gardevoir asked, well, more like snapped.

"Yeah sure, why not?" Green shrugged. "I don't mind so long as we get out of this . . . well, prison, for lack of better words."

So, he returned everyone, including Noivern who whined a bit but was convinced eventually, and Gardevoir got ready to Teleport the two to the forest nearby.

And then Silver burst in, glaring with such force that Gardevoir half Teleported herself and ended up on the bed, while Green didn't even move.

"You were forbidden from going out." Silver snapped, leaning against the door and crossing his arms sternly. "I don't give a damn if you're the Phantom, or if you're Oak's dead grandson, you're not allowed out."

Green mentally sighed and decided to play the Weeper. Well, not literally weeping, but he was gonna try sadness or something.

"Please!" Green cried, clasping his hands as if begging the tall man. "I can't take being cooped up in here much longer, please just let me go out! Just a few hours? Minutes? Anything!"

"No." Silver said flatly. "And stop acting."

Dammit.

Green glared and dropped the act, although it was really just a glorified version of how he felt- he really did want to go out badly.

"At least before you lot let me out when I wanted." Green snapped back. "What am I, a prisoner? You can't keep me in here!"

"You get free run of the house and access to everything but doors leading outside, what more do you want?" Silver asked harshly.

"To go outside!" Green yelled. "Just let me out for like . . . five minutes a day or something!"

"Yeah, like you'll be satisfied with five minutes."

"An hour?"

"No."

" . . . Three quarters of an hour?"

"No."

"Half an hour?"

"No."

"Fifteen minutes?"

"No."

Green almost screamed. "Come on, what do you want me to do? Dance? Drug the lot of you? Erase the memory of me leaving?"

"Have you done that?" Silver raised an eyebrow.

"If I did, would I be standing here begging to go outside."

Silver rolled his eyes. "Whatever. It's not up to me anyway- that's the Kanto lot, and Professor Oak and Looker. Professor Oak said you can't go out because he wants to figure out what to do with you, and Looker says you're too dangerous."

"What about the Kanto lot?" Green asked him.

"Well, sis wants to keep an eye on you and Red just generally hates you anyway. Yellow's the only one without much of an opinion besides the fact that she thinks you're quiet." Silver told him.

" . . . So I'm being kept inside because, basically, everyone hates me and-or doesn't trust me." Green deadpanned.

"Yep, pretty much."

"Well, the feeling's mutual!" Green barked.

Silver let out a gasp of air when Gardevoir psychically pushed him out of the room and shut the door.

"Thanks." Green murmured.

"No problem, Green." Gardevoir said with icy calmness. "But do we sneak out or what?"

"Well, we can't do it now. That'd only give them more reason _not_ to let us out." Green said, wandering over to the bed and flopping onto it. Gardevoir sat next to him, watching him stare at the ceiling in frustration.

"We have three days until the rematch." Gardevoir reminded. "You think we can last until then?"

"Probably not." Green sighed. He crossed his arms and held up his hands, examining them. "I don't know about any of you, but I'd probably end up killing every human in this house if it meant getting out for a few minutes."

"I would gladly put them all to sleep." Gardevoir agreed.

" . . . What's this?" Green suddenly asked, sitting up. "You never agree with me. Oh my Mew you're going soft!"

"I am not!" Gardevoir cried, jumping up. "I'm just . . . trying something new!"

"Hah, denial, denial, denial!" Green sang.

"Shut up, you little brat!"

"Denial, denial, denial!"

"I said shut it!"

"Nah, you said 'shut up', not 'shut it'."

Gardevoir fumed. "You know damn well what I mean!"

Green fell back onto the bed, laughing.

He needed something to distract him, and this at least helped a bit. He sent out everyone else, who immediately wondered why they weren't outside or at least making their escape.

"We got busted." Green explained. "By Silver."

"Dammit." Zoroark sighed.

"But this is stupid!" Sylveon snapped. "They can't keep us in here forever, surely they can't do that?"

"They probably don't care." Goodra said. "And Looker's basically representing Kalosian law, so what he says goes."

"And apparently the old coot and the Kanto dexholders." Gardevoir scoffed. "They're the ones making us stay in here like we're prisoners."

"If you think about it we kind of are." Sylveon muttered, lying down on the floor moodily.

"I find this ironic." Xerneas spoke up, looking at Sylveon.

"What do you mean?" Goodra asked, when no one else spoke for a little bit.

"Sylveon was the one who used to protest the most to going outside, to getting dirty. But now he wishes to be outside because he enjoys it." Xerneas said, smiling slightly.

"I just got used to it." Sylveon huffed, looking at the Legendry flatly.

"I am sure you did."

They waited for a few minutes, but no one seemed to want to come in and yell at Green for shoving Silver out. Or getting his pokemon to shove him out, whichever. So he left the room with Noivern, Goodra and Xerneas (in case anyone asked a dumb question and didn't want to listen to him) to go and find something to eat for the team.

Green, on the other hand, had decided to go on hunger strike.

"Um, why?" Goodra asked as they made their way to the kitchen.

"Well it isn't like I can die from starvation anyway, but some of them probably have bleeding hearts so they'll let us out before I do die." Green explained.

"The child has a point." Xerneas nodded. "However I would not advise this, not when you may need your wits for the upcoming battle."

"Please, we could beat him blind, deaf and numb." Green scoffed. "Just Thunder the entire field or something."

"Wouldn't it be beach, though?"

" . . . Same difference."

"Not really."

They found the kitchen eventually. It had two doors for some reason, well three if you counted the back door, but that one was locked and Green didn't want to give them more reasons not to let him outside. Goodra tried to grab some stuff from the cupboards, but she kind of gooed it by accident and Green had to take it from her and wipe it off carefully.

"Hey, you think we could take all the bread and stash it?" Green asked, seeing some bread left out to defrost. Most likely someone else's work since Red was probably too dumb to know what to do with frozen bread anyway.

"I would not advise that either." Xerneas said, looking perplexed. "Would the 'bread stash' be a way to get back at Red, perhaps?"

" . . . Maybe?"

Xerneas rolled his eyes. Then he glanced at something behind Green and stiffened slightly. Goodra stepped back from the cupboards to look at whatever it was too, and Noivern hissed and coiled himself around Green, who turned around carefully.

"Hello." Oak said awkwardly from the second door.

Oh, piss.

" . . . Hi." Green said in a very small voice. He wasn't exactly scared, but he wasn't calm either.

"I, uh . . . what do I call you?" Oak suddenly blurted.

Green stared.

"You told everyone your name was Cas, and some refer to you as Phantom, but . . . I'm still not certain, but your real name is Green. What do I call you?" Oak asked.

" . . . I thought my own grandfather would have seen it as obvious." Green said forlornly. "Or is it that you've just forgotten about me in ten years?"

"No, I . . . I regret the day you disappeared, I wish it hadn't happened, but-"

"I didn't disappear!" Green snapped. "I died, get it!? The picture was real!"

"But- but Green- I mean, the clone- the clone said-"

"He lied, you idiot!" Green shouted. Noivern gave a low screech to emphasise his words. "That thing lied and you still believe it, even after it was exposed? I died, I felt it all happen!"

" . . . You did?" Oak gasped, in a hushed voice.

"Yeah, I did." Green said. His arms fell limply to his sides. "I felt it. I've died hundreds of times after that."

"But . . . you're still a child." Oak swallowed. He took a step forward, but froze when Noivern hissed. Goodra came up beside Green, with a stern glare that he'd never thought was possible on the usual gentle pokemon.

"And that matters to you why? A few days ago you and everyone else were prepared to try and execute me." Green snapped back.

"Yes, well, you're the Phantom Thief, so-."

"What the hell's the point of this?" Green finally barked. Oak looked so shocked he shut up. "Why are you talking to me? Far as I know you don't give a shit."

"Green, language!" Oak snapped.

"Oh, so now you know what to call me."

"You never used to speak like this to me." Oak went on sternly. "You were polite, you knew what not to do, and-"

"No, I didn't!" Green yelled. "You never told me what I could and couldn't do, so when I did something wrong you yelled at me! That's why I was so polite, you old bastard!"

" _Green_ -"

"No." Green said forcefully. "No, this time, I'll talk and you'll listen. I'm sick of this shit. You think you know me? You never knew the real me, just the kid you wanted me to be! You made me change my whole damn personality just to fit what you wanted, and for what? To look good?"

"Green, be quiet-"

"See, you're doing it again!" Green practically snarled. "Telling me to shut up each time I try and talk to you! I come to you with a problem, you tell me to man up and deal with it. You said that to a seven year old boy! I try and tell you what I want or fucking _need_ , but you either ignore me or you tell me to shut up! What kind of grandfather are you, anyway?"

Oak was silent now.

"And now you're doing it again, like I'm the same kid you wanted me to be! Well guess what? I'm not; I'm a murderer, a thief, someone who needs to be locked up far, far away from people!" Green yelled.

Even Xerneas was shocked at this point.

Green found himself panting from the huge rant he'd just had. It was probably the longest time he'd ever spoken to Oak in his entire life. Most of it had just literally been Green asking a single question and Oak just telling him whatever.

"I'll be willing to bet you've had to say that for a very long time." Someone said.

Green turned to the door where he and half of his team had come through. Gold was standing there, with Silver at his shoulder. Gold didn't look surprised, but Silver had such wide eyes it was comedic to see someone who, as Green had learnt, was normally so stoic be shocked.

" . . . Yeah, I have." Green nodded slightly.

"Uh, this wouldn't happen to have anything to do with us not letting you out, right?" Silver asked hesitantly. "Like . . . you were pissed off, you needed something to vent at, and Professor Oak just happened to be there?"

"Or maybe he just wanted to say it and he finally had the opportunity." Gold suggested.

"It's . . . kinda both actually." Green said. He was suddenly feeling shy, and he took a step back.

Noivern welcomed him back into his wings, making Green wonder and then realise that he didn't care when he'd stepped out of the protective cocoon. Goodra seemed to snap out of some kind of trance, and she leaned down to gently whisper to Green.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Green nodded silently. He really had needed to say that, but that had been years ago- and now suddenly it had all came back. And it kind of hurt.

Xerneas watched him with a calm expression, which was strange considering how he'd been as wide eyed as Silver.

"He will not harm you." Xerneas said, looking at Gold and Silver. "He is merely . . . frustrated. And a little drained. If it would not be too much trouble, I request that we all be allowed out for at least three hours a day. You should understand that in Kalos we could never stay in one place for very long, and we had been mostly outside in that time. This is very strange for us."

'Strange' was an understatement. But Green said nothing, in fear of killing the rapport Xerneas seemed to have with Gold and Silver. He didn't want to think of Oak.

" . . . I'll tell sis." Silver murmured. He went out of the room, and Gold followed after a brief pause in which he smiled a little bit.

Oak stayed.

"Would you kindly remove yourself from this room, old man?" Xerneas asked, his tone changing to almost winter-cold.

Oak's protest died as Noivern and Goodra added their silent opinions in. He walked away.

 **oooo**

" . . . And that's why he should be allowed outside." Gold finished off.

Silver was kind of impressed. Gold was normally a bit of an idiot, and Silver had originally thought that Gold'd probably tell everyone the problem with as much joking and weirdness as possible. However, it had been quite the opposite- gold had told the dexholders everything calmly, delivering the words in such a manner that everyone had listened without interrupting

Even Red had listened.

The Kanto dexholders glanced at each other and then looked at Looker. He was silent, staring at his hands in his lap as if he were trying to read them for the answer. He looked thoughtful and didn't seem to want to speak at the moment.

"Maybe we should let him go out." Sapphire spoke up. Everyone turned to her, minus Looker. "Well, think about it, will yah? I hate being cooped up inside all the time, and I have to sleep in a tree just to feel comfortable!"

"You want to sleep in a tree, barbarian, so why are you saying it like it's a bad thing?" Ruby snorted. Sapphire stuck out her tongue at him. Ruby turned to the rest of the dexholders. "I say no. There's no telling what he might do- Silver, you said he'd tried to Teleport out with his Gardevoir an hour ago, right? Well, who's to say he won't try it again?"

"He seemed pretty intent on just getting outside rather than running away from us." Silver admitted.

The kid- Green, Cas, whatever- had seemed mostly focussed on just getting Silver to let him outside. Silver didn't know what was keeping him here, but if all the kid wanted was to go outside . . . well, that wasn't much of a bad thing, was it?

"I say yeah as well!" Black said loudly. A couple of the dexholders winced and he quickly apologised, lowering his voice. "Sorry. I say yes, since . . . well, I know what it's like to feel a bit cooped up. Ask Cheren or Bianca- before I was allowed to go out and train for the League in Unova, I was so jittery! I only got through because of Musha, but if I hadn't had him . . . well, I guess I'd be like him right now."

The others voiced their opinions as well. White agreed with Black simply because she knew what Black got like when he was agitated, while the Sinnoh trio voted no on the grounds that the kid was too dangerous. Emerald said yes, and glared around as if to challenge anyone to tell him he couldn't agree to let the kid out.

Gold and Silver were already going for yes, so that just left Crystal of their trio. She sighed and then reminded everyone about the Steelix incident, and then said no. Well, that'd cause a rift.

The Kanto dexholders had yet to voice their opinions, but if Silver had to guess, he'd say that Yellow and Blue would say yes and Red would say no.

So, that meant that:

Gold, Silver, Sapphire, Emerald, White and Black agreed to let the kid go outside.

Crystal, Ruby, Pearl, Diamond and Platinum said no to the idea.

Six on one side, and five on the other. There were fourteen dexholders, well fifteen if you counted the kid and his Mjolnir pokedex, so that meant that there may actually be an even number if Yellow and Blue were on opposite sides.

"I say no." Red snapped. See? "Like Platinum said, he's too dangerous."

"Or maybe you just don't like the fact that he almost beat you." Emerald snapped back.

"Shut up!"

"Guys!" Gold shouted. They both fell silent, staring at him with wide eyes. "Thank you."

"I say we let him outside." Yellow spoke up a few seconds later. "He's technically a kid, and . . . well, I agree with the others. I'd hate to be cooped up like this as well."

Blue was the only one without an opinion that had been voiced now. Silver watched his non-blood sister, silently begging her to say yes. She _had_ to understand the kid's problem. He did. He knew what it was like.

 **oooo**

"You got your wish."

Green looked up. The guest room was, yet again, filled with him and his entire team, though this time Noivern had taken Green onto the ceiling and into a cocoon again. Silver didn't even look that bothered about the weird position. Well, weird to anyone else anyway.

"I did?" Green blinked. Noivern opened up his wings and Green smoothly slid down them, then gripped onto Noivern's claws and was gently and fluidly placed on the floor in front of Silver.

"Yeah, you can go outside." Silver nodded. "Might wanna be careful though, most of the dexholders still don't trust you."

"Who would?" Green blinked. Silver frowned, but Green ignored him.

"Alright, you get four hours a day, starting at noon and ending at four pm." Silver explained. "No Teleporting to get out, otherwise it'll be treated as an escape, and you have to inform one of us when you do go outside. You're limited to Red's garden, which should be enough since it's about as big as this house, and if you attack anyone or anything your privileges will be revoked and you'll be shoved in the basement with Gree- the clone."

"Do I need to take notes or something?"

" . . . Because it's kind of past noon, we're giving you until five today." Silver said.

"Was that against everyone's better judgements or did you all take pity because I'm already insane and they didn't need a psychopath?" Green asked.

"Don't make me tell them you don't wanna go outside."

"Oh, no, no, I wanna go out, I do." Green quickly amended. He put on his best innocent face. "Can we go now?"

"'We'?"

"Uh, hello, 'we' as in me and my team. We all hate this." Green deadpanned, gesturing to the pokemon in the room.

Noivern slipped out of the ceiling and landed behind Green, and leaned over Green's head to curiously look closer at Silver, who backed away with a weirded-out look on his face.

"I don't get the deal between you lot, but fine. Just don't kill or hurt anything." Silver sighed. "Now go, before everyone decides you can't go outside."

"Thanks!"

As Green, and his team, dashed past him, he noticed Silver's eyes widen again. Most likely because he'd thanked the man, but whatever.

Red's garden was . . . well, to put it bluntly, overgrown. There were no paths, it was a bit like a field what with how big it was, and it was fenced off. Green stayed away from the fences. The grass came up to his knees, which in simple terms meant Red really needed to employ a gardener or something, and Green found that he somehow didn't mind.

Mainly because he could sit pretty much anywhere and it'd be comfortable. There was a really big oak tree (oh, the irony) near the centre of the field/garden, so Green and his team made their way over to it.

Two hours later, they were still by the tree. Green kind of liked it, really. It was a bit cold, since it was still winter, but he didn't really mind much. For a winter day, it was warm. Well, kind of like lukewarm, but whatever. He liked it.

He wasn't sure when he'd noticed it, but he knew that he was being watched from inside the house. And somehow he didn't care.

"You know, maybe these guys aren't so bad." Sylveon purred. He was curled against Green, who was yet again cuddled by Noivern, who was leaning against the tree.

"You kidding? They probably had to take a vote and stuff to let us go outside." Gardevoir snorted. "I'll bet most of their responses were 'the kid's dangerous' or 'he'll run away and kill someone for the fun of it' or some Tauros-shit."

"They're not exactly unfounded." Green reminded her.

"What's with this sudden need to beat yourself up about everything you've done?" Zoroark frowned. "You never did it before."

Green glanced around his team- his family- and sighed. Maybe he should tell them, at least this way they wouldn't find out second-hand from Looker or someone else telling Xerneas or something.

"When I was on the helicopter-thing . . ." Everyone was immediately attentive, even Noivern. "I kind of . . . well, they put me in a cell. Alone."

"That's just cruel!" Goodra cried in horror.

"Maybe, but to them I deserved worse. A-anyway, I was in there, alone, and . . . well, you know how I remember every single death I've ever had?" The team nodded warily. "Well, I can remember the faces of every person I've ever killed as well. They all . . . kind of came back to me. And I . . . cried."

They stared at him in shock. To them, him crying meant something incredibly serious, and if something made him cry they would go and find it and destroy it or something.

But they couldn't destroy guilt, otherwise they'd have to destroy him- and they couldn't. Wouldn't.

"I stopped after a while, and then Looker came in, said some stuff I forgot, and . . . he shot me dead." Green finished. "Then after I woke up they killed me over and over, but I was still reeling from . . . that . . . so I didn't care. I let them."

He heard Noivern hiss above his head, and glanced up at the bat-dragon thing. Noivern cooed slightly, his expression softening, and laid his head on top of Green's, and cuddled him a little bit tighter. But it didn't hurt, no, Noivern would never do that.

"If I ever see that man again I will kill him." Xerneas stated flatly.

"Save some for me." Zoroark growled.

"Guys, please, it doesn't matter, really . . ." Green tried to tell them. Maybe he shouldn't have said that. Dammit Green, learn to keep a lid on it!

"To you, maybe not. To us? It matters a hell of a lot." Sylveon hissed.

At least they cared.

A few hours later, Yellow came out to tell Green his time was up. She sounded and looked reluctant, but Green didn't honestly care. He got to go out, and now he didn't have to go on hunger strike as well.

"Hey, um . . . do you remember your sister?" Yellow suddenly asked, as Green watched his team go through the kitchen backdoor one by one.

He blinked and looked up at her.

"Vividly." He nodded. May as well be honest since she was the only one who was even remotely nice to him. "Why?"

"She's come here to visit Professor Oak with her husband." Yellow explained.

" . . . Hus . . . band?" Green murmured in shock. Sure, she'd been eighteen last time he'd seen her, and she was probably twenty-eight by now, but he could never imagine his sister getting married to someone. Not her.

"Bill Masaki." Yellow told him. "You know him?"

"Storage geek person . . . thing?" Green blinked. He honestly had no idea what Bill's exact job was, but he knew it involved the pokemon Storage System.

"He made the pokemon Storage and keeps it running for Trainers." Yellow said.

Yellow started walking, and Green followed, knowing very well this would probably end badly. His team followed silently.

"She fell in love with him five or six years ago, and they got married after being boyfriend-girlfriend for two years." Yellow said. "We would have told you before, but we didn't really want to distress her with the whole . . . um, Phantom Thief thing. You're actually kind of famous here now."

"I think the word would be infamous actually." Green murmured.

"Hm . . . But anyway, we couldn't really avoid it. Red kind of blurted it out that you were here, and after a bit of panic and a few tears, Daisy kind of begged to see you." Yellow explained.

"Does she . . . know about the Phantom thing?" Green asked. He suddenly felt very, very terrified.

"Well, no. But we were thinking maybe you should update your look, in case anyone happens to recognise you by how you dress."

Green tugged at the scarf around his neck. "If I have to change my clothes, I'm keeping this on."

"Fair enough." Yellow smiled. "Also, maybe some shoes too."

"Hell no."

They got to the living room, and Green hesitated. He loved his sister, ever after not seeing her for ten years straight, but he was scared that his relationship with her would be like his current one with Oak. Yellow glanced down at him and gently ruffled his hair, and then she opened the door.

And Green couldn't hesitate anymore.

He followed her in, swallowing his anxiety, and wringed his hands as he glanced around the room. There. Sitting next to the guy with the curly hair who Green guessed was probably Bill. She looked, well, older. Like she'd aged too much to be herself.

Green had to remind himself that she wasn't eighteen anymore. He didn't know why, but for some reason Daisy getting older seemed as impossible as him dying and aging.

He stared at her forever, before she broke the spell by standing up. Green didn't know what he'd expected- maybe she would cry out and hug him, or she'd ask him why he never came back to Pallet town, or . . .

But he didn't expect complete confusion and anger.

"That's not Green." Daisy said. "That's that murderer from the TV!"

What?

"You told me he was here!" She cried, looking straight at Oak. "You told me my baby brother was still alive!"

"Daisy-" Oak began. He was cut off.

"That's not my little brother! What kind of sick joke is this?"

If this was some kind of stupid movie, and it had gone wrong, Green would have shouted 'cut'. But it wasn't a movie.

Cut. In more ways than one.

"Da-Daisy . . ." Green breathed. She turned to him, cold anger swelling in her eyes.

"Where's my brother?" She snapped. "Did you kill him?"

She didn't recognise him. She didn't recognise his voice. His face. His eyes. _Her_ eyes. Their mother's eyes.

She didn't know him.

He was crying before he even felt the tears. There was silence, and then suddenly Daisy seemed to realise something. She opened her mouth to say something, Green thought maybe some scathing remark, but was stopped when Noivern covered Green in his wings and screeched loudly.

Then Noivern picked Green up and basically flew out of the room, and they were outside again. Noivern could sometimes go faster than the speed of sound, and it had taken seconds to get outside. And Green wasn't even allowed out, but he couldn't care less right now.

He curled into Noivern's fur, and felt the Dragon/Flying type shift. Green knew, without even having to look, that Noivern was hanging upside down on one of the tree branches, and his wings kept Green cocooned away from the world.

Green curled up a bit more and whimpered.

His sister hated him because he was a murderer. He was beginning to hate himself for not regretting the things he'd done. He should regret them, but he didn't.

Why didn't he regret them?

" . . . Kid?"

Zoroark. They'd followed. Of course they would, they trusted him and loved him, and he trusted and loved them as well.

"We're here, don't worry." Zoroark went on. "We'll never leave you."

 _Thank you._

 **OOOOOO**

Renny: I put that in because, well, the fanfic wouldn't be complete without Daisy. In the original she accepted Green without any issues, which seemed unreal, so I used the stuff from the TV and made her . . . well, you know.

Green: I cried, seriously?

Renny: Heh. Read and review!


	7. NEW ACCOUNT

Hey guys. I know this seems kinda sudden, but I'm moving accounts.

The new one is called RennyBanette, and since FF is a bitch for links, you'll either have to type in the name in the search thing or, alternatively, go to this profile page and follow the link there.

This fic will not be posted on my new account. In case you were going to ask.

Anyway, see you guys on my new account!


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